Simon Johnson talks Reading City survival

Reading City manager Simon Johnson. Photo: Neil Graham.
Reading City manager Simon Johnson. Photo: Neil Graham.

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Reading City earned an valuable three points on Saturday as they beat Longlevens 2-0 at Scours Lane in the Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division.

The result means City are three points clear of bottom of the table Abingdon United going in to the final game of the season and with a goal difference of +9 are all but mathematically safe.

The presumption right now is that with the division running one team short, only the bottom side will go down but as Reading City boss Simon Johnson explains to Football in Bracknell, his side will be going all out to finish above Longlevens when they play them again on Friday.

Great result on Saturday. That’s been coming and ‘should’ ensure safety. How do feel?

Couldn’t be happier. It’s exactly what my squad has deserved over the last few weeks for their efforts, but we haven’t been getting the rewards. So it’s also a massive relief to finally get something.

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Do we think that’s it? 18th is enough? By my reckoning it should be.

Better to be safe than sorry. We’ll be heading to Longlevens on Friday with the same mentality from the weekend. It would be nice to get another win and put some pressure on them to grab that 17th spot in their final game.

A few away supporters we were stood with on Saturday suggested they had a few missing. Does that possibility affect you at all or is it just ‘go again’?

They had their main threat in Brad Martin available on Saturday and we dealt with him. Any extras I’m sure we’re capable of dealing with as well. We have been excellent defensively in the past few weeks, so if we can take our chances we’ll give ourselves half a chance.

Longlevens AFC striker Brad Martin. Photo: Mark Pugh.

Looking at the club, what’s the difference between staying up and going down?

We’ve built a strong squad and with a good pre season under our belts we could definitely hold our own in the Hellenic Prem so would be a shame to go down. The club is always looking to improve from top to bottom so we want to play at the highest level possible.

Main image: Simon Johnson by Neil Graham.

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