Reading 3 Fulham 3: McDermott praises the Royals’ character

Brian McDermott praised Reading’s character to come from behind to rescue a point after the Royals played out a six-goal thriller with Fulham at the Madejski stadium on Saturday.

The home side went ahead in the 26th minute courtesy of a stunning Mikele Leigertwood strike, before Bryan Ruiz and Chris Baird overturned Reading’s lead to leave Fulham headed for three points with 13 minutes remaining.

However there was late drama as Garath McCleary momentarily restored parity before Dimitar Berbatov scored a sumptuous effort to put the visitors back in front – but there was still time for Hal Robson-Kanu to poke home from a free-kick to rescue a point for the Royals.

“At 3-2 my weekend was absolutely miserable, but at 3-3 we were trying to kick on and win,” said McDermott.

“It was a strange game – that’s the fourth time we’ve taken the lead in this league and we need to finish the job off.

“All we can do is talk about the game and playing our football, doing what we have to do and if we do that the win will come.

“We try to win games and that’s what we’ve done here for two or three years. The players derserve an awful lot of respect for getting back into that.”

Jol heaped praise on Fulham striker Berbatov, with the Cottagers boss revealing the Bulgarian played through the pain barrier in the final 15 minutes.

“Berbatov was good. He can play in midfield, in the hole and up front,” Jol said.

“He needed an injection to play the second half and showed a lot of character.

“There was a problem with his rib which was very painful. Maybe it was broken, we’ll have to take a look at it.

“We asked him to play on for 10 or 15 minutes but he stayed on the pitch and it was good to see him score the third goal.”

Open a bet365 account with £10 or more and you'll get a free bet of up to £200 on us. Click here for more information.

Like The Sport Review on Facebook:

Read more on: brian mcdermott, dimitar berbatov, fulham, martin jol, Premier League, reading.