Paul Ince praises the way his side bounced back from three straight defeats
Posted Sunday, October 23, 2022 by PA
Reading manager Paul Ince praised the bouncebackability powers of his side as they ended a run of three successive Championship defeats with a 2-0 home victory over Bristol City.
After a drab first half, in which neither side seriously threatened, Reading went ahead in the 52nd minute when FC Porto loanee Mamadou Loum headed home his first goal for the club.
City attempted to find an equaliser but their frantic efforts fell well short and Reading secured the victory in the fourth minute of stoppage time through substitute Andy Carroll.
“On the back of those (defeats), it’s just such a great bounce back for us,” Ince, who turned 55 on Friday, said.
“The defeats weren’t because we hadn’t performed well.
“At QPR [lost 2-1], it was the 84th minute when we made a stupid decision to give away a penalty. At Swansea [lost 3-2], we were 2-0 up.
“We’ve just been making individual mistakes and we’ve been punished for them.
“If we weren’t performing well and were getting beaten, then you’ve got a problem. The players aren’t giving it all for you.
“But what you see with these players, they’re giving it for you every time and as much as they can.
“And you’re now asking the same players to perform two or three times a week. That’s how gruelling the Championship is.”
Victory was Reading’s first in five matches.
“It was a very good win and thoroughly deserved,” Ince said. “A clean sheet was also really important.
“To keep that clean sheet against the team who are top scorers in the league with Burnley, it was a great effort from the lads.
“That includes everyone but maybe more so the younger players. And, of course, they will learn from that.
“We dealt with most things but you’re always taking a gamble when you allow long balls to drop into your box.
“It’s just luck, isn’t it? They can fall anywhere. But we threw our heads in there and we made tackles.”
Bristol City had won two of their previous three games, including 2-0 at West Brom last Tuesday.
“That was miles away from what the same players dished up [at West Brom] in midweek,” City manager Nigel Pearson said.
“It’s really disappointing, when you name an unchanged side because the players deserved to play again, that they then don’t perform. It’s just careless.
“With Reading’s first goal, it was the perfect ball in but we didn’t get in a challenge.
“With the second one, it’s just because we were pushing for a goal and we couldn’t deal with a straightforward ball into the channel.
“We’ve got the players who have hit one level in midweek but they’ve then performed miles below that. Collectively, we were short today.
“And things like set plays. Our own set plays were woeful and that’s from two of our best technicians.
“In the first half, the message was ‘move it quickly’. But we were day-dreaming and just looking for someone else to blame.
“Reading pressed well against us today because we allowed them to as we dwelt on the ball for so long and were reluctant to make positive decisions.
“It was a very frustrating day.”
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