Burton head coach Mark Robinson apologised to the club’s travelling supporters after his side’s poor display in their 3-1 League One defeat at Reading.
A Chem Campbell double gave the Royals a 2-0 half-time lead, which Sam Smith turned into 3-0 in the 82nd minute before Danilo Orsi’s goal for Albion two minutes later was a mere consolation.
In a meagre crowd of just 8,774 at the SCL Stadium, Burton’s contingent numbered just 130 and Albion are now winless in eight league matches this season.
“The first half wasn’t what we want to look like at all,” Robinson said. “We want to play progressive football.
“Giving away cheap goals, that’s not what we want to do.
“I can only apologise to the fans that travelled and the fans at home.
“That’s not what we want to look like, that’s completely the opposite of what we want to be.
“In the second half, that was a lot more what we want to look like. We were aggressive, a little bit horrible, a mixture of everything. We played with intensity.
“I not really going to blame the boys. I love them and they’re going to be fantastic for us.
“It’s about responsibility [during the game] and we felt that a change of shape would give us a bit more of a threat in the frontline in this particular game.
“It’s not about being more solid, we can have various shapes in which we can play, once we’re together and people understand their roles.”
It was Reading’s second home win in four days after the 2-1 defeat of Huddersfield on Saturday.
“Yes, that is really satisfying,” manager Ruben Selles said. “The performance was good.
“We started really well in the first half. We dominated and we scored the goals.
“The second half was a little bit less brilliant but we managed to score the third goal from a good set-play.
“As well as the performance being good, the boys are working really hard.
“Their energy and the tempo and quality of some of their actions was also good.
“We need to continue this and, as we always say, we want to be robust in all that we do.
“We want to put in more performances like this, we want to be consistent.”
Selles praised the contribution of Campbell, the loanee winger from Wolves.
“We knew that, with Chem’s quality, he would be a good attribute to the club,” Selles said.
“It’s good that he got two goals but he also played well.
“We’re happy for him and we’re happy for everyone involved in the bigger picture.”
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