Leam Richardson pleased with Reading’s all-round display in win at Stevenage

Reading manager Leam Richardson was full of smiles after they produced a comfortable 3-0 Carabao Cup win at Stevenage.

First-half goals from Jacob Brown and Paddy Lane gave the Royals a comfortable advantage at the break, and although Boro responded with much more vigour and intensity in the second period, a third from Randell Williams after 85 minutes confirmed their third-round place.

“I’m really pleased,” said Richardson. “Really pleased with a lot of the aspects of this evening. Within the game I thought we had some strong individual performances but I thought, collectively, we were probably worthy of the win as well.

“And we’re really pleased with the clean sheet. You know you’re going to have a lot of duels at Stevenage, a lot of aerial combat, and you’ve got to defend your box.”

Alex Revell was not impressed with his side in that opening 45 minutes.

The Stevenage boss said: “It was a first-half performance that wasn’t anywhere near what we expect.

“I thought we started the game pretty reasonably until they scored, but without really creating a clear-cut chance.

“When we’re on top, we have to get better and we have to start creating those opportunities.

“The two goals isn’t us at all. We got to where we did last year based on our togetherness and defensive structure. It’s being tested at the moment and we were nowhere near good enough in the first half.”