da 888： Alan Pardew has conceded Newcastle United are struggling for form at the moment, after two strikes from Demba Ba rescued a point for the Magpies in an otherwise abject performance.
da luck： Pardew told the Shields Gazette: “I keep saying that we’re struggling for rhythm in these games.
“This was a tough place to come – the energy levels of Reading were fantastic. They showed a lot of quality. We were struggling for long periods, and our spirit has seen us get a point again.
“But we can’t keep relying on our spirit. We’ll have to play a lot better than that if we’re going to get wins especially away from home. I don’t want to say it wasn’t good enough, because I thought we tried hard, but we definitely aren’t playing at our best, and we need to find it.”
Reading were aggrieved after replays showed Ba used his hand to convert Newcastle’s equaliser. The point put the Toon Army ninth, while the Royals remain in the relegation zone.