Reading FC manager speaks after first away win at Millwall

Here is every word from boss Paul Ince.

Being top of the league

It’s great that the fans can say that. We struggled to stay in the league last year and I think the fans, who came in their droves to support us, never envisaged that after six games we would be top of the table so give them that and let them enjoy the moment. Hopefully it lasts a long time but that’s something for them for the support that they have given us over the last six months.

The match itself

It’s a tough place to come to and we thoroughly deserved to win the game. I said to the lads after that I was disappointed, we didn’t put the game to bed- that was a lesson learnt. As well as I’m happy with the performance, I’m disappointed we didn’t put the game to bed. You win 2-0/3-0 win, you all sit back. What happens is the last five to 10 minutes they throw balls into our box, which could go anywhere, and it’s a lottery then. You could come away 1-1 which would be devasted as we deserved to win the game.

Chances to score more

They’re clean-cut chances, you can’t miss them. Jeff’s one is at a time where you think we’re a bit under the cosh, not because Millwall are cutting through us but because of the way Millwall play. They get it and go long. We’ve been preparing for it all week so we knew what was coming but when you’re 1-0 up and you start to go back you need the breakaway where we can get the goal. We did that and it was lovely football from us to be fair and you think put it to bed and it’s game over. We didn’t do it and could easily have got just a point out of it. I’m not happy about that but I’m happy with our first away win.

Naby Sarr

We’ve all been waiting to get this deal done and he’s been really frustrated. To be fair to Naby, he’s been patient so when I got the news that it was all done, I was over the moon as I had earmarked the game for him with the way Millwall play. Match fitness is different to training fitness. This is his first game for us, and he was exceptional. It’s always nice to win 1-0. Hutch with a broken nose, that’s what it’s all about- fighting to win games. Enjoy where we are at the moment, but I just want to be competitive.

Sheffield United

We’re still down to our bare bones. I went to Luton on Friday night and they’re a very good outfit. You expect them to be up there. We’ve just got to keep going. Sir Alex Ferguson always told me the season doesn’t start until March. I’m just pleased that the fans have the chance to be buoyant, say we are top of the league at the pub tonight- that’s for them. Keep our feet on the ground, get to 40 points and see where we are.

What it means to beat Millwall

Too right it does. I have a lot of respect for Gary Rowett. I like Millwall to do well but you know the relationship between Millwall and West Ham, it’s not a great one. To come here and win 1-0 against one of your old rivals was great for me personally. It was great for the fans and players. We threw our bodies in there, you don’t want to do that every week, but we have a spirit. You kind of think to yourself that you can’t wait to play again, but I can wait. That’s the Championship for you, just pick yourself up and go again.

The chase for a left-back

The clock is ticking, especially as far as loans are concerned. We need to get one in. To be fair we’ve coped well, the system has helped us. We looked a big powerful team today and that was the point of playing Lucas [Joao]. We need a left back in as I don’t always want to play three at the back. Sometimes I want to go 4231 so fingers crossed I’ll have some news in the next 48 hours. Who wouldn’t want to go to Reading, we’re flying!

Ince on tactics

Yeah it was, when you look at the way they play, from set pieces, the way that Cooper wants to split round the back on set-pieces and Hutchinson, that’s what they do so we were planning for that. I think sometimes, no disrespect to Junior, he’s been outstanding for me, this was a case of being big around the back. When you look at the headers that Tom [McIntyre] won, [Hutchinson], that lot, it worked a treat and I’m just disappointed we didn’t put the game to bed.

Ince on depth

“It’s not enough, in the Championship we’re talking about 46 games, we play six games in two weeks with effectively fourteen, fifteen players, you’re asking a lot from them. Yeah, it’s great, when things are going well they keep going for you so we’re fortunate with that situation. You look at Millwall, they’re bringing four or five people on and they’ve got people they’ve spent two million pounds on and all that stuff. It gives us a breather, so the fact is we’re getting there. Yak’s probably going to be another two or three weeks, Dann’s another two or three weeks, so if we can get a left-back in, we’re still miles away from what we want. But the most important thing is that we’ve started well. We’ve given ourself a little breather and we go again on Tuesday. And these bunch of lads will go again on Tuesday because they just want to be competitive and give their all like they did today. 

Ince on atmosphere

“To be fair, what I did say to the players was the Millwall fans are great fans, you know what I mean. They’re going to come in their numbers to show their support for their team. We have to quieten them, because we have a habit of conceding goals early. We’ve now gone away from that, so I’ve said to the players ‘we can come here, and for the first 15 mins just quieten them and our game management was fantastic. Sometimes we were timewasting and Joe was taking [his time], but that’s Championship football, we just wanted to quieten the crowd so we could get a foothold in the game. And as you saw at half-time, the crowd were booing the players, which I don’t like, I don’t think it’s right, if you’re going to boo the team, then boo it at the end of the game, you can deal with that. We’re six games into the season, it’s always hard when you get booed going into half-time because you know you’re going to get a response from the opposition and that’s what we got, but it’s too early, look at Michael O’Neill getting sacked at Stoke after five games, who’d wanna be a manager, it’s not right for me. But saying that, I’ve just got to focus on us and what we do. Once we got the goal they were under pressure and we knew what was coming and the thing was could we hold on? Could we be focused and concentrate on what the job at hand was and we did for 97mins. It’s always nice to hear that whistle. 

Ince on winning away

“It’s a noisy ground, the fans do back the players and it’s different. When you’re at home to Middlesbrough you’ve got all your fans there and they’re spurring us on. Here, we didn’t have all our fans, yeah we had a great following, it was a fantastic following, and it’s important. Winning home games is good, but you know if we’re gonna do what we expect to do this year we have to win away. If you go back from Rotherham, which was a disaster, Blackpool we should have got something out of the game, we were the better team in the second half, so sometimes you kind of think as a manager you’re not that bad away if you look at performances apart from the Rotherham game, which we were horrendous [in]. We came here with plenty of confidence and you’ve got to pick up points away if you’re going to do well in this league. But coming to Millwall, with me being ex-West Ham obviously helps, it’s a great feeling.