Reading boss Paul Ince demanded more from his substitutes after the 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town.
Midfielders Tyrese Fornah and Mamadou Loum joined goal scorer Yakou Meite off of the bench against the Terriers, however none went above and beyond in the comfortable win.
With captain Andy Yiadom forced off injured, and fellow full-back Baba Rahman out for a spell, Ince wants to see more from the squad to push for places.
"Ty (Fornah) was sloppy at times and it was infuriating me. It’s hard to come on as you’re not up to the speed and tempo and we saw that. We need to understand why they weren’t ready to hit the ground running. It's a massive three points for us considering we’ve got Norwich on Tuesday and QPR on Friday.
"We needed them because the two strikers were getting tired and you’re asking Thomas to keep playing right-sided midfield when he’s an attacking player. When you need to bring them on, they need to be ready to come out. Today, I didn’t think that was the case."
In more positive news, unused sub Ovie Ejaria looks lined up for minutes against Norwich City on Tuesday.
The attacking midfielder provides some extra imagination, while others such as Shane Long and Femi Azeez remained sidelined.
"Ovie will get some minutes; he looks sharp in training- he can come and play on the left-hand side or the right," the former England captain confirmed. "That’s a big plus for us. Today was majorly important that we picked up three points. We regroup and see what we’ve got to play on Tuesday."
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