Reading FC News: 'We should be at least mid-table' says John Swift after 4-1 Championship defeat to Blackpool

Swift and his team succumbed to a 4-1 defeat at Blackpool on Saturday, a result that sees the gap between them and the relegation zone cut to six points.

Speaking after the loss at Bloomfield Road, Swift gave his thoughts on Reading’s tough campaign thus far. 

“Obviously everyone’s disappointed with us being down there, I don’t think we should be,” Swift said. “I think the team we’ve got, we should be at least mid-table. 

“But even if we lose or draw we’re going to go into the next game not really looking at the table, just trying to get points on the teams above us. We want to get to a position where we’re looking up not down.

"It’s disappointing not to get the three points (on Saturday) but luckily the gaffer said results went our way. We’re not going to get that lucky in the future so we need to take points when we can.”

Swift and his teammates walk back to the centre-circle after conceding on Saturday. Image by: JasonPIX

Despite taking the lead through Lucas Joao’s fifth goal in five games, Blackpool levelled soon after before making it 2-1 just past the hour mark when Gary Madine headed home from close range. Reading pushed for the equaliser but were undone by a pair of late counter-attacks as the hosts stretched the final score to 4-1.

“I thought we would (get the equaliser) to be fair,” Swift said. “We had a few chances. We wanted to stay in the game as long as possible and as soon as they got the second goal we were on top. I think we were on top before the second goal and then we were definitely on top after for about ten or 15 minutes.

"We should have at least gotten an equaliser, disappointed that we couldn’t do that and then obviously they caught us with the third. It was a mad five minutes, they got the fourth and that was the game done.

“We were in the game all the way up until 3-1. It was a tough pitch to play on, they definitely know how to play on it because it’s tough to get the ball down and play on it…buy yeah, it was a tough afternoon.”

After a whirlwind fortnight that’s seen Reading play four times and change managers from Veljko Paunovic to Paul Ince, Swift is thankful to now have a full week to prepare for this weekend’s clash with Millwall.

“He (ince) has come in and we’ve already played…I think he watched the Preston one and we’ve obviously had two games after. It’s hard to do anything, I literally haven’t been on the training pitch really - I think we had one or two sessions - but it’s just walk-throughs, shape and stuff. 

Reading celebrate Lucas Joao's goal on Saturday. Image by: JasonPIX

“It’s hard to get your point across so it’s good to have a week, build up into the Millwall game and hopefully we can be a bit better in our shape and the last 15-20 minutes will go our way.

“It’s all been a bit crazy. But before this game, to take seven points from three - it was all happy, we all thought we’d come into this game…and hopefully get through the first half…we thought going into the second half we’d be on top, which I think we were. But it was a great corner and Madine’s such a threat in the air. Crazy few weeks but we’re out of it now and hopefully we can build onto better things.

“We haven’t done much on the training pitch, I’m looking forward to this week, working on our defensive shape. He (Ince) is big on defensive shape and getting back into shape off the ball because we concede too many goals. So it will be good to get a week with him on the training pitch so he can get his points across.

"I think I was a little too young to watch him play but I’ve seen the pictures and watched the video so I know how good of a player he was. It will be good to have chats and meetings with him.

“We’re going to go into every game wanting the three points and needing the three points. The performance needs to follow. Millwall will be a tough game, it always is against them. They’re strong, they look to get the ball into the box as quickly as possible and hopefully we can stop that, get the ball down and play - it was tough to do that today because of the pitch. Hopefully against Millwall we can get the ball down and play and create some chances.”

After back-to-back games with a goal and an assist - taking his tallies to 11 and 13 respectively - Swift failed to make his mark on the scoresheet against Blackpool. He and his team are back in action on Saturday against Millwall at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.