Reading FC manager Paul Ince believes a lack of stretching may lie behind the Royals injury problem.

The club have been rocked by injuries all season long, with assistant manager Alex Rae believing that they have had one first-team player injured in every match they have taken charge of since taking over in February.

There are currently seven first-team players out for the remainder of the season, including the likes of John Swift, Andy Rinohmota and Scott Dann.

Speaking ahead of the final home match of the season against West Brom, Ince suggested that more intensity to stretching could be a solution going forward.

 

Reading Chronicle:

 

He stated: “It’s strange how this club has had so many injuries- I’m not sure why that is, maybe it’s something they’re doing wrong in the warm-ups.

“I think stretching is a big part of fitness, at Inter Milan we used to stretch 45 minutes before training and 45 minutes after training- here we don’t stretch enough. We think we’re stretching but we’re talking about what we did last night and what team you’ve got on FIFA.

“For us to keep getting these injuries can’t be bad luck, there has to be something we’re missing.”

Despite the injury problems, the club have hauled themselves to Championship safety, and done so with two matches to spare.

This would have been difficult to imagine back in January when the club lost 7-0 to Fulham and were knocked out of the FA Cup to non-league Kidderminster Harriers.

 

Reading Chronicle:

 

Ince continued: “What we’ve achieved has been brilliant. We’ve had some horrendous injuries, eight or nine players, so it’s a credit to the lads who have managed to stay fit and keep performing. They keep trying to perform to my standards and they deserved a lot of credit.”