As a Reading season ticket holder for over thirty years, I have seen my share of disappointing performances. The frustration of watching my team 'underperform' from time to time is a consequence of loyalty. I'll get over it and be back for more next week, next season, and beyond. I always try to salvage something positive out of every game regardless of the result. My recovery from the disappointment of yesterday's performance was hampered by Leam Richardson's opening remarks in his in post-match interview. "We lost the game in the first five minutes..." was not at all an inspiring message.

Conceding a freak goal after two minutes is not an acceptable summary, from the man responsible for the future of our club, of a home defeat at the hands of a team without a win in three games. On the subject of reasons why we lost the game, he was spoilt for choice. Apart from anything else his team drew level after sixty minutes and then went on lose! Leam then went on to make reference to the match 'stats' which revealed another worrying perception of his team's performance "...we were above on everything apart the important one, goals..." To certain extent he was correct to point that out. Reading had more shots than Borough,16 to 8, crosses 15 to 11, and tackles won, 100% to 42.9%. However, Reading also had the most shots off target 8 to 2, and fouls 13 to 12.

Digging a bit deeper, we get closer to identifying the underlying causes of our dismal defeat. Apart from Reading squandering at least three good chances from crosses, they allowed their opponents too much time on the ball ,allowing Borough to dominate possession 52.65% to 47.4%, complete more passes 449 to 402, and make more forward passes 173 to 151. All of which indicates Peterborough, controlled most of the game, were more accurate with their passing, and sharper with their goal attempts.

Peterborough stifled Reading with an effective press, which certainly reduced the impact of Wing and Savage, who were forced to play too deep to create chances or get into forward positions. There was generally a lack of movement from Reading and their passing, short, and long, lacked accuracy and timing. On occasions Reading even struggled to find a teammate from a short throw-in which simply is unacceptable.

For team coming into the game after a fine away win and a ten-day break, they looked surprisingly short on energy and ideas. I was pleased to see Ehibhatiomhan score his second goal of the season, but playing up front in a central role just doesn't suit his game. Dorsett had a solid game and Arbrefa coped well when left isolated to cope with Lisbie's pace and dribbling ability. Sadly, our usually reliably centre back pairing of Williams and O'Connor had an off day by their standards.

It is early days for Leam Richardson, and hopefully he will produce better results and performances as he gets to know his players, but we can't have too many days like this. We need to embed the expectation that conceding an early goal triggers a comeback not capitulation.

John Wells