McDermott to Leeds squad: It wasn’t Warnock’s fault
Warnock apologised to United’s dressing room for the foul on Adam Le Fondre which led directly to his dismissal and a 1-0 loss in the sixth minute of injury-time on Wednesday night.
The defender felled Le Fondre as Reading launched a final attack, incurring his second booking of the game after an earlier caution for a late tackle on Reading right-back Stephen Kelly.
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Hide AdWarnock, who will serve a one-match ban during tomorrow’s clash with Burnley, had barely left the field when Le Fondre met a free-kick from Royston Drenthe and beat Paddy Kenny with a glancing header deep into stoppage-time.
The dramatic goal inflicted Leeds’ second defeat of the season and soured an otherwise pleasing return to Reading for McDermott, who managed the Berkshire club for three-and-a-half years.
But Leeds boss said: “There’s no blame attached to anything that went on.
“Sometimes you give a free-kick away unnecessarily and the first person to hold his hand up in the dressing room was Stephen Warnock. He’s a good guy.
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Hide Ad“If it happens to us and someone makes a mistake then we have to make up for that mistake. That’s what we’ll be trying to do.”
Reading broke up-field moments after United defender Jason Pearce missed a glorious chance to win an open match with a close-range header and Warnock was tempted into a sliding challenge outside his own box with fully five minutes of added-time played.
“He stays on his feet in that situation,” McDermott said.
“If he stays on his feet then (Le Fondre) doesn’t go anywhere. Stephen knows that, he’s an experienced player.
“If he’d stayed on his feet then the referee would probably have blown up before they had a chance to score.
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Hide Ad“But referees don’t tend to blow up when there’s a free-kick and a chance for a team to stick it in the box. They let the game go.”
Leeds dropped to 11th in the Championship after Wednesday’s loss, a point beneath the division’s play-off positions.
But McDermott drew confidence from a spirited performance against his former side.
The 52-year-old returned to the Madejski Stadium for the first time since he and Reading parted company on March 13 and he thanks Reading’s supporters for a warm reception after heavy traffic delayed the arrival of him and his players until 45 minutes before kick-off.
“We were late getting there,” McDermott said.
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Hide Ad“We were only two miles up the road but the traffic was horrendous.
“By the time we got to the ground we just wanted to get out and do our warm-up and I was only able to concentrate on the game.
“But I do appreciate the reception I got.
“The Leeds fans were excellent too.
“They travelled in numbers and I was gutted for them at the end.
“It made for a decent atmosphere and I just thought that at 0-0 after 95-odd minutes, the game was done. But that’s life. I thought Jason was going to score for us and his was a great chance, a free header.
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Hide Ad“It actually looked to me like it was in and if that goes in then the game’s finished.
“It’s tough to take when late goals go in against you but we did it to Brighton on the first day of the season when we scored really late on.
“We’ll do it to other teams in the future.”