Nighttime Non-Stop
Torquay 0 - 1 Reading
Royals boss Brian McDermott was very happy to see his team come through a tricky Carling Cup tie away to Torquay on Wednesday evening; a Grzegorz Rasiak winner sending them through in the final minute of extra time.
Torquay are in excellent form at Plainmoor, and Reading had to stand firm to keep them at bay as they pushed them every step of the way in an exciting knockout encounter.
Their late winner was just reward for the hardy supporters who travelled to the south west to back the team, and Brian said afterwards, "It was a really tough game and at the end of it I was delighted for our supporters.
"We had to stand up to the challenge Torquay threw at us, because if we didn't then we wouldn't have gone through.
"I was delighted with our centre backs, Brynjar and Alex won all of their headers, they did what they had to do right until the very end of 120 minutes.
"We played a strong side, and if we hadn't then we would have had problems. It was very, very difficult.
"I knew beforehand it would be difficult, they'd not conceded here in eight games and not lost in something like 12 - you could see why. It's a small pitch, a lot of ammunition goes into the box and we had to stand up to it. Torquay will be close to promotion, I am convinced of that.
"We treat every game seriously, be it cup, league, whatever, we want to win every game. We were very, very irritated after Saturday and now we can really look forward to Portsmouth.
"Our lads played a full 120 minutes and that's a good thing, they're all fit and strong so there'll be no problem going to Portsmouth, we look forward to it now."
Torquay are in excellent form at Plainmoor, and Reading had to stand firm to keep them at bay as they pushed them every step of the way in an exciting knockout encounter.
Their late winner was just reward for the hardy supporters who travelled to the south west to back the team, and Brian said afterwards, "It was a really tough game and at the end of it I was delighted for our supporters.
"We had to stand up to the challenge Torquay threw at us, because if we didn't then we wouldn't have gone through.
"I was delighted with our centre backs, Brynjar and Alex won all of their headers, they did what they had to do right until the very end of 120 minutes.
"We played a strong side, and if we hadn't then we would have had problems. It was very, very difficult.
"I knew beforehand it would be difficult, they'd not conceded here in eight games and not lost in something like 12 - you could see why. It's a small pitch, a lot of ammunition goes into the box and we had to stand up to it. Torquay will be close to promotion, I am convinced of that.
"We treat every game seriously, be it cup, league, whatever, we want to win every game. We were very, very irritated after Saturday and now we can really look forward to Portsmouth.
"Our lads played a full 120 minutes and that's a good thing, they're all fit and strong so there'll be no problem going to Portsmouth, we look forward to it now."