Mark Yates previews friendly against Reading on Monday
Mark Yates is looking forward to another good test for Reds against Championship opposition when Steve Clarke’s Reading visit the Checkatrade.com Stadium for our final home friendly on Monday, kick off 7.45pm.
So far Reds have been beaten 3-1 by Fulham and 3-0 by Brighton, but there were lots of positives for the manager in the second half display against the Seagulls on Wednesday.
Mark said: “We were perhaps a bit too attacking in our formation in the first half against Brighton, second half we tightened things up, pressed the ball better and caused them problems. I learned a lot about certain individuals and that’s the whole point of the pre-season games. It was a great test and there were a lot of positives for us, particularly in the second half.”
“Reading will be a similar sort of game I imagine. They have strengthened in the summer and have a very experienced manager so it will be a good run out for us.”
After Monday Reds finish off with games against Nuneaton at Manor Park on Wednesday followed by a trip to Whitehawk next Saturday.
The League Two opener against Oxford is less than a fortnight away and the boss is confident that additions to the squad will be made this week.
“We are working hard on several things and I’m hoping to have tied some things up in the next few days,” he added.
“I’m aware that we are light in certain areas. We need a goalkeeper or two and full back cover. We had Conor Henderson, who needed a game, and Lewis Young there against Brighton which wasn’t ideal.
Whether that’s loans or permanent deals, I would like to have the full squad in place as soon as we can so we can work on things with the whole squad for at least a week before the Oxford game.
“We had a number of trialists with us again last Wednesday and those lads will get another chance against Reading then we can take a look at what we do for the Nuneaton game which comes 48 hours later of course.”
For ticket prices details for the game click here.
