Reading boss Paul Ince bemoans missed chances after Luton stalemate

Posted Wednesday, November 02, 2022 by PA

Reading boss Paul Ince felt his side should have left Luton with three points after they missed three good chances during their 0-0 Sky Bet Championship draw.

Striker Andy Carroll put two free headers wide and Shane Long sent a decent opportunity off target in stoppage time as the Berkshire side pressed for a winning goal.

Ince said: “As much as it’s a point, I’m disappointed we didn’t get the three, as we had enough chances.

“I’m not one for stats, but coming away to Luton and having 17 attempts on goal and not scoring any of them, is disappointing.

“Andy Carroll has two headers you expect him to eat up, Shane Long in the last minute, three yards out, these are the chances you’ve got to take.

“Tom (Ince) hits one and the keeper makes a great save, Tyrese (Fornah) hits one and you think it’s in from 20 yards out, so it just didn’t go our away today and we’re disappointed not to pick up the three points.”

Ince continued: “Credit to the guys at the back, I thought they were outstanding and to keep a clean sheet here is a great achievement, as it’s not an easy place to come.

“It’s tight, the fans are great, they’ve got a great manager, and you don’t get into the play-offs last year if you’re not a very good side.

“We knew that, we had to battle, at times you’ve just to be calm and get the ball down in the play – and when we did we looked a very dangerous side.”

Luton had started brightly, with Harry Cornick sidefooting wide and Elijah Adebayo and Alfie Doughty testing Royals goalkeeper Joe Lumley, before they lost captain Sonny Bradley with what looked like a serious ankle injury.

Home stopper Ethan Horvath made a fine save from Yakou Meite, before Carroll headed wide at the back post.

The experienced forward did so again in the second period, as Tom Ince forced Horvath into a good save from range, with sub Fornah also going close.

Late on, Dan Potts volleyed over for Luton, with Long heading wide from close range at the other end.

Luton boss Nathan Jones said: “It was a hard-fought point, a bit of a robust Championship game and I thought we stood up to that.

“We started really well, had some real good situations, a couple of opportunities, but just never demonstrated enough quality.

“It was a tough, tough game, Reading are tough to play against. They sit in, they’ve got strong lads, are direct, play at their tempo, we tried to create our tempo,

“We had to defend our box with everything, we’ve got all our centre-halves missing again, so they’ve had to really dig in and I’m proud of that performance in terms of the defensive side.”