Saturday 6 August 2016 20:43, UK
New Reading manager Jaap Stam praised midfielder John Swift for making an immediate impact in the 1-0 Sky Bet Championship victory over Preston.
Swift - a summer signing from Chelsea - scored the deciding goal 10 minutes before half-time in an authoritative Reading display at Madejski Stadium.
"We knew what John could do otherwise we would not have signed him," Stam said. "We can't buy very expensive players for a lot of money.
"So sometimes we need to be inventive and have a look at what kind of players we want to have. And John is the type of player we were looking for in midfield.
"We had a lot of possession in the first half and dominated the game totally. We created a couple of very good chances but did not finish it off. We should have scored a second goal.
"Some of our play was very good to watch. That's what we're aiming for. You can't do that against every team. But it's hard work and we're not there yet.
"We've only been working for six weeks and you can't achieve miracles in that time. But where the players are at the moment, we're very happy with that."
Stam replaced the sacked Brian McDermott in June and had eight new recruits in his squad from a summer of rebuilding.
Three of them - Joey van den Berg, Roy Beerens and Swift - made their debuts against Preston.
Reading dominated the first half, gaining 82 per cent possession, but managed only one goal for their efforts.
Daniel Johnson wasted Preston's best chance after the break, when he ran through but was denied by an agile save from home keeper Ali Al-Habsi.
"We were two yards off the pace in the first half," Preston manager Simon Grayson said. "When we did press Reading, we didn't press quick enough to stop them from getting into a rhythm.
"We didn't do that as a team and so that was disappointing. And we never really looked a threat going forward, either.
"In the second half, we made sure the players got further up the pitch and got closer to people. We created some good chances, no better than Daniel Johnson's. At this level, you've got make sure you punish them.
"We're disappointed but it's a lesson to learn. We knew Reading were going to play high-risk football and if it comes off, it's all well and good. But when we did our job, we got into some good areas."
