Ian Holloway Discusses Referee & Praises Rival Manager After QPR's 2-0 Win Over Reading
Conor Washington scored his second goal via the penalty spot on Saturday afternoon, helping secure Queens Park Rangers' victory over Reading at Loftus Road.
Reading conceded a penalty in the 59th minute, with defender Tiago Ilori shown a red card for a bad challenge inside the box.
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Before Jaap Stam's team were reduced to 10 men by Ilori's foul, many were wondering why the referee carried on playing as soon a Royals' debutant Jon Dadi Bodvarsson went down.
QPR Manager Ian Holloway acknowledged in a post-match interview that the referee should have stopped the play straight after the Reading player showed signs of injury, Get West London reports.
Holloway admits that the decision was harsh on Reading's behalf but also stated 'that's life' when it came down to the conceded penalty.
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"I thought the referee could have blown, the fella was on the floor. But they had the ball before so they carried on attacking when he down so I thought he was going to stop the game.
"It isn’t half harsh, but that’s life. If our fellow was down and we had the ball, i’d have asked my team to kick the ball out. But things like that in life change, so the referee’s got to do what he’s got to do," he said.
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Holloway also empathised with Stam following the injury of his new man Bodvarsson, acknowledging that Reading were missing other players due to injury.
Despite this, Holloway praised Reading for their attempted efforts against his stronger QPR side, stating that if the Royals did manage to score from their attempts, the game would have taken a different turn.
"I know what Jaap wants to do and where he’s gonna go so well done to him, because it takes a brave man to do that.
"They’ve lost so many players, they’ve lost a goalkeeper and they’ve lost a centre forward. They are weaker than they were at the end of last season by a mile, luckily for us, we managed to capitalise on that."
