Charlton 3-4 Reading: Jose Riga and Brian McDermott reaction
Saturday 27 February 2016 19:11, UK
Charlton manager Jose Riga believes Yaya Sanogo can make a big contribution for his side between now and the end of the Sky Bet Championship season.
The striker, on loan from Arsenal, scored a hat-trick in Charlton's 4-3 defeat against Reading at The Valley, and had other chances to score in an excellent all-round display.
Sanogo has struggled in English football since arriving at the Emirates as a teenager, and failed to impress in loan spells at Crystal Palace and Ajax.
However, Riga feels the 23-year-old has the quality Charlton need to climb off the bottom of the Championship table.
"I knew the story of Sanogo and I'm happy for him that he can show his value today. Of course you have to show you can do it for more than one game but I'm happy," Riga said.
"I saw immediately during the training sessions the quality he has. When you arrive from France early as he did, at 19 to 20, to a big team like Arsenal, it's quite difficult. My discussion with him was he can come here and take what he can from this challenge."
Sanogo looked to have rescued a point for the home side by levelling the score at 3-3 in the 84th minute.
Earlier, former Charlton striker Yann Kermorgant scored twice against his former club either side of Sanogo's first goal and Ola John netted a third as Reading went into a 3-1 half-time lead.
But Sanogo headed Charlton back into the game in the 49th minute and he equalised six minutes from time, after Ali Al-Habsi parried Johann Gudmundsson's shot.
However, Deniss Rakels' close-range finish in the second minute of injury-time earned Reading the three points.
Riga felt his side were unlucky to lose and said they were not helped by having to make personnel changes in a defence which was run ragged by Reading in the first half.
"We had to readjust the side again, like I've had to do all the games since I was here. It's about defending more in an effective way. If it's a lesson for the players, it's a good lesson," he added.
Reading ended a week which began with them reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals with a third straight win, though manager Brian McDermott admitted their second-half slump proved they still had work to do.
The Royals boss said: "First half we were very good and played some fabulous football. The three goals were top drawer. We had a half-hour spell where we were all over the place, quite frankly."
McDermott admitted he had discussed the overall performance with his players in a bid to cut out the sort of play which allowed Charlton to come back into the game.
"We've had a strong conversation because we want to get better and learn from our mistakes."
