Reading conceded a stoppage time goal to lose 2-1 at Preston North End. 

Here is the reaction from boss Paul Ince.

Ince on the losing goal

A lack of concentration, wasn’t it. It’s not the first time it’s happened- Sunderland and Preston at our place. When you get back into the game as we did, you’ve got to learn to see out games and we didn’t do that. Whether it’s a lack of quality, lack of mental toughness, lack of focus and concentration. It’s a domino effect. We’ve got the ball in midfield and try and drive up the park instead of passing out, then we go back to the goalkeeper and play down the right-hand side. The ball comes in, we panic, slice at it and it goes for a corner. We don’t win the first header or the second header. You come away thinking we’d done so well to get back into the game, it’s great that Kelvin got his equaliser as a young kid. You’ve got to learn how to hold onto these games, and we lack that quality and mental toughness to do it.

Ince on charater of players

When you go back to the games, Sunderland and Cardiff, where we’ve lost in last minutes- we haven’t got the character to see out games and take a point. We always seem to make silly mistakes or silly decisions. If I had been playing in this team, with some of the things you do, I’d be right on you because you won’t get away with it. You seem to let people get away with it and nobody says a word to them. Leadership qualities and character. If people are making bad decisions, get onto them. Don’t just say it’s okay to do that, because it’s not okay. The only voice you could hear on the pitch was Dannsy. We all make mistakes, me more than most, but some of the decision making you think it can’t always come from me, it’s got to come from the players on the pitch. They’re costing us time and again.

Ince on individual mistakes

I’m not emotional, I’m just really frustrated. We keep kicking ourselves in the foot all the time. The boys are fighting for their lives, but I’m so frustrated because you’re 1-1 and at the stage where we need to pick up points. We can’t afford to give away points cheaply. Joe kept us in the game and made some wonderful saves, but once you see that it should give you a response. You get the equaliser and everyone’s happy and you think right boys let’s go and get the second or take a point. To do it like that really frustrates me because we don’t deserve it. We did ride our luck, but if you get that luck and that goal and you think see it out now. It’s a combination of mistakes and there’s not much you can do about it as a manager- if people are going to make those mistakes there isn’t much you can do about it. It frustrates me because once we got back to 1-1 and Femi Azeez has a chance, it baffles me some of the decisions we make.

Ince on Femi Azeez impact

You have to be careful because when you play people like Femi, if you see the games where he has come on and made an impact, it’s a little bit open and we leave spaces. When you play Femi, if you’re going to play a 4231, but Lucas is playing well and so is AC. We need goals. It’s hard to put Femi into that formation. When he came on he looked lively and good, but it’s both sides of the coin. Up and down, defending. As a young lad, it’s something he needs to improve on. As far as an attacking threat, he can he really good for us.

Ince on relegation

The threat of relegation was always going to be there, as soon as the points were deducted. If we were sitting here on 47 points, like we should have been, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’ve always said that we were sitting pretty, and now we’re not. The change in mentality from we need one more win to now two to stay up. The threat of relegation has always been there, as long as the six points were hanging over our heads. It’s something we’ve had to deal with in such a small amount of time- the timings diabolical. We can’t worry about relegation; we have to worry about trying to perform. Burnley will be a tough one, as they all will be. We’re still in it. Every game is going to be a tough one.

Ince on future

If you bring someone else in I’m not sure what’s going to change. It’s not like the lads aren’t fighting or playing for me, you can see that. I’ve got no qualms about that [my future]. We’re in this position that we’ve been put into, and you need to think about that and how unfair it is to me and the players. We were sitting on 47 points. Look at the injuries, it’s going to be tough. You could put Pep in here, or Klopp, it would be no different. We’ve got eight first team players out. It’s a bit unfair to ask that question and I’m not sure where you’re trying to go with it, but at the end of the day with three weeks left I don’t think I’m important in this. The players are important, and trying to lift them.