Brian McDermott hailed Reading's resilience against Millwall, whose boss Kenny Jackett admitted frustration.
McDermott relieved after Royals battle back to earn point
Brian McDermott hailed Reading's resilience after they battled back from two goals down against Millwall, whose boss Kenny Jackett admitted frustration.
Darius Henderson and John Marquis put the Lions two up in the second period but Mathieu Manset came off the bench to score a late double.
Afterwards McDermott praised his players for keeping going and earning his side an opening day point.
He told the club's
official website: "It was a nice relaxed start really.
"We were 2-0 down with eight minutes to go and Manset has come up with two fantastic finishes.
"The second one was really good and it came just after Jobi McAnuff had hit the post. Another team would have thought that was it, but to give credit to the players they kept going and showed fantastic resilience."
Praise
McDermott also had some words of praise for the Lions.
"I've seen them in pre-season, any of Kenny Jackett's sides are very difficult to play against." he added.
"They've got some quality in their team and Ken will be disappointed because they were 2-0 up with not long to play. But they're going to be up there this season."
McDermott was grateful for the excellent display of goalkeeper Adam Federici, who made several timely saves to keep his side in the game.
"We needed him, that's got us a point," he said. "Having said that, we've hit the bar and the post so it could've been 3-2, 4-2 - anything
"But at 2-0 up Ken would've expected his team to see the game out. But credit to our players, there's a real resilience about them."
Throw away
Despite seeing his side throw away the chance to open the season with a win, Lions manager Jackett refused to feel too downbeat.
"That was disappointing but, having said that, I don't think we necessarily did enough to get a clean sheet," he told his club's
official website.
"They were very good going forward and they always have goals in them. When you've got the frontline they've got, with four good players and players to come off the bench, that's what we're aspiring to, I think that's the next stage.
"There's a lot to be proud of. There's some frustration because it was a winning position but we got a little look at one of the best sides in the division."
