Paul Ince Hails ‘Thoroughly Deserved’ Win Over Bristol City

Reading returned to winning ways with a fantastic 2-0 victory against Bristol City at the SCL Stadium. Mamadou Loum gave us the lead early in the second half before Andy Carroll secured the points in stoppage time.

Manager Paul Ince was absolutely delighted with the victory. He spoke to the official club website and Berkshire Live.

Ince on the win

“Off the back of the disappointment of losing a two-goal lead at Swansea, it was important to come back home and win. We wanted that win at home. We’ve got to go to the likes of Burnley and Watford… so it was really important to get some points on the board at home.

“And it was a game that we thoroughly deserved to win. The boys played well and showed character. It gets nervy at times… we’ve got to stop being nervy. When you’re one up, you want to get that second goal – and when we got it, it was comfortable. But you won’t get away with it all the time.

“When we’re holding onto 1-0 leads, we’ve got to learn to get up the park, get high up… keep doing what we’re doing rather than camping in our end. When it’s like that, it’s about where the ball drops, who it falls to… it’s a bit of luck and fate.

“But overall, I’m absolutely delighted. It’s a clean sheet with a back three of really young players, against one of the teams that has scored the most goals in the division this season. That’s a great achievement.”

Ince on the overall team performance

“It’s a good day. You have to enjoy them… you don’t get them every week! And the fans got behind us, again. And for the lads, a great three points for us.

“The energy around the stadium has to be like that. We have a depleted squad – four centre halves out, and by and large I’m asking the same players to play a few times a week. So you need the fans to give them that impetus when they feel tired and lose focus and concentration.

“And credit to these players. They work their backsides off. Considering the disappointment of the result against Swansea, this is a great way to bounce back.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries – that gives players a chance to come in, and to enjoy it. Amadou Mbengue came in and did ever so well, Nelson Abbey has come through the ranks and played – and it’s important to bring players through the ranks, and it’s exciting for the fans to see that happen too.

“Overall it was a fantastic team performance – we should have finished it earlier as we had chances on the counter attack! But I can’t be fussy. We take the win.”

Ince on Shane Long, Andy Carroll and Jeff Hendrick

“You’re talking about top players. They know the game, they’re cute and they’ve played at the highest level. We’re lucky to have them. And we’re lucky to have Jeff Hendrick who was outstanding. He was the best player on the park by a mile.

“I asked him to be more influential in games. He’s always at a six or seven every week but he’s got a lot more than that. He’s a Premier League player and what he showed was Premier League level. He was absolutely outstanding.

“He played the ball down the side to Long - and I thought I’d be quicker than him and Carroll - but Long is so clever. He gets his body there and picked the right pass. It was a great finish from AC. It’s really important the subs work. It’s a great result and I’m really pleased”

Ince on his half-time talk

“Games are going to be scrappy, it’s football. When you look at the way they play, it’s going to be a scrappy game. The bottom line was that we went in at half time at 0-0, that was the most important thing.

“I said to the players, you’ll get opportunities but we need to get the first goal. We have a pattern, we get the first goal, defend deep and then counter attack teams. We had four or five chances to put the game to bed early”

“I don’t want it to always be like that but it’s where we are. I’m not interested if it’s scrappy or if it’s Barcelona or Manchester City, it’s three points which were thoroughly deserved against a team that scores a lot of goals in the Championship”