The Continental Cup winners left it late to defeat the Royals, thanks to goals from Demi Stokes and Lauren Hemp, claiming a crucial win in the race for a Champions League spot by lifting ourselves to fourth.
Though his side had crafted a hatful of chances and perhaps should have won by a more comfortable margin, Taylor says he was pleased the players did not panic and stuck to the process, which finally bore fruit.
“It was a really good first half performance,” he reflected. “Amazing apart from not scoring.
“Their goalkeeper made some good saves but we made it easy for her. We spoke at half-time about remaining patient.
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“It was a surprise who was on the end of the goal - Demi - but great to be rewarded. It was a perfect performance to preach patience.
“The stats at half-time were massive in our favour in terms of the way we progressed. We expected goals but way we played was great. We controlled large parts.
“Reading made it difficult, so our pressing had to be good. We didn’t back up those stats on Sunday against Spurs – we played too centrally – but we played the right passes with the right tempo, and we reinforced at half-time that if we are patient, it will come.
“It was a surprise that Demi was the resource we used. It had definitely been a long time since she’d scored and we could have pulled the trigger earlier, but she finished it like someone who scores 25 a season!
“Sometimes games don’t go your way but we attacked the game from the start, which was pleasing. It was solid from the players.
“The pleasing thing was three points but the performance levels were really good.”
Taylor also reserved praise for substitute Lauren Hemp, who was introduced from the bench on 58 minutes but changed the game by creating Stokes’ strike before doubling the advantage late on.
“She gave such energy,” he added. “She’s so dynamic, Lauren. As much as we wanted to start her and keep a winning team, we knew the schedule meant we had to make changes.
“She takes longer than anyone to recover. What a sub to have! We were fortunate to get Ruby [Mace] back too. Things are coming together nicely.
“There’s a fine line between freshening up and keeping rhythm but we had good options we didn’t have earlier in the season.
“Julie Blakstad was very good – she’s an exciting talent, a young player with good physical attributes and good technical ability, and a hammer of a left foot.
“She was unfortunate not to capitalise [with a goal] but we’ve had to handle her with care. She was still in pre-season so we’ve had to build up her minutes.
“Competition is really high – good players didn’t get on, like Laura Coombs, Filippa Angeldahl and Janine Beckie, who are competing and working hard in training. and with their level of performance.
“Julie pushes Lauren but she can also play at full-back, as well as attacking midfield, as we saw on Sunday.
“When you are able to bring on subs like Jess Park, Ellen White and Lauren Hemp, it helps massively as a team.
“We’re trying to earn qualification for the Champions League. We’re always looking to push up the table, especially after our initial problems.
“Everyone’s striving to be in those places and we’ll keep moving in the right directions, taking it game-by-game.”
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