Reading defender Abdul Rahman Baba was disappointed after his side were held to a 3-3 draw by Queens Park Rangers in an EFL Championship fixture on Saturday, although he was happy to make his first appearance for his new club.
The Ghana international, who signed for the Royals for the entire 2021-22 campaign but on-loan from Chelsea on transfer deadline day, was handed his debut by manager Veljko Paunovic and went on to impress despite the team conceding two late goals at Madejski Stadium.
It was QPR who took the lead in the 11th minute when Michael Morrison scored into his own net but John Swift levelled the scores for Reading in the 35th minute after sliding in a cross from Ovie Ejaria.
The home team then took the lead for the first time in the game in the 64th minute courtesy of Swift and he later made it 3-1 in the 77th minute.
However, a late rally by QPR saw them score two goals courtesy of Andre Gray in the 79th minute and Stefan Johansen in stoppage time to snatch a draw.
The 27-year-old Baba, who signed a new deal with Chelsea before moving to the Royals, was left gutted with they could not get hold of the three points but was also delighted to make his debut.
Delighted with my debut today but gutted we could not hold on for all three points.We have to change that on Tuesday.The fans were amazing till the end. #REAQPR pic.twitter.com/HX9Rgp2KYD— baba abdul-rahman (@babarahmangh) September 11, 2021
“Delighted with my debut today [Saturday] but gutted we could not hold on for all three points,” Baba wrote on his social media pages.
“We have to change that on Tuesday. The fans were also amazing till the end.”
Nigeria midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru was also handed his full home debut by Reading and he provided the assist for the second goal scored by Swift.
Reacting to the outcome of the game, Royals coach Paunovic praised the team for scoring fantastic goals but warned them to stop conceding so easily.
"There were a lot of positives in our second-half performance, but I can't deny that it feels like a defeat," Paunovic said as quoted by the club’s official website.
"We were on the verge of winning three points. But again conceding three goals…it is a must-fix, we must address it. It is a priority and urgency for our team. We scored a lot of goals but we have to stop the bleeding.
"We will have games like this. In the first half, we didn’t play well at all; in the second half we managed to play against a very good team who are in very good form right now.
"The three goals we scored today – they were pieces of art. But we need to fix the defence and we need urgency at this point.”
Reading will host Peterborough in their next league assignment on Wednesday.