Despite PNE’s 12 match unbeaten run coming to an end, forward Louis Moult insists that North End remain focused on the top six Play-Off spots.
North End fell short at the Madejski stadium with first half goals from Yakou Meite and Mo Barrow condemning North End to a 2-1 defeat with Jayden Stockley grabbing a goal back deep in added time.
Despite feeling disappointed in the loss, Moult feels it wasn’t through a lack of effort and believes it changes little in their hopes of a Play-Off place.
“It’s a disappointing end to the unbeaten run but the boys gave it absolutely everything today” said Moult after the game. “You saw some of the boys running round with injuries and digging deep for the football club and for everybody really.
“We’ve seen that all season - even earlier in the season when we were struggling to get a result and it’s no surprise to me where we are in the table and we’re definitely looking up.
“The next three to four games are massive for us. If we can put ourselves in a position like we did last season and keep ourselves in contention then we’ve still got a chance."
Today’s game was bitter sweet for Moult, who played out his first competitive minutes of 2019 after a difficult few months with injury, and the 26-year-old feels he’s ready to go for the remaining games of the season.
“It felt good” said Moult on being back out on the pitch. “I’ve been training for a few weeks now and I’ve been playing in a few games behind closed doors and I feel good, it’s just about building fitness now.
“We worked the ball quite well at times today and created a couple of chances and if we score a little bit earlier on we get the momentum to score another one potentially but unfortunately it came a little too late for us.
“We’ve got to forget about today. We’ll look at it and look to put the mistakes right then go again. We know that was an off day with the standards we’ve set in the last 15 games so we need to put that one to bed now and look forward to the Sheffield United game.”