Reading lost their third match in four games after losing 2-0 to Watford.

Here is every word from Royals boss Paul Ince.

Ince on the game

Not disappointed at all. Disappointed in the penalty we gave away. I said before the game that these are top players, you’ve got to stand on your feet. The first 15 minutes we struggled to get to grips with them, but they didn’t really cause any main issues. Then we make a stupid foul when we don’t need to, and that gave them the lift they needed. They’re a good team, having just come down from the Premier League, and the last thing you want to do is give them a helping hand. That’s ill-discipline, people not listening to the detail we’re trying to tell them.

After that I thought we played some good stuff. We got a foothold in the game, lacked the cutting edge up front, but I said to the players you’ve given a good account of yourself. They’re a top team, we’re nowhere near that stage yet. We’re a team under an embargo with a mix-and-match team. We competed, gave it our all. We’re miles away from this level, it’s somewhere we want to be in two- or three-years’ time if we’re lucky. We came, had a go and competed.

Ultimately, we didn’t have enough cutting edge up top or create enough chances. The performance doesn’t disappoint me, the decision making does. As a manager you can’t do anything about it if a player wants to make those decisions. The best players in the world make the best decisions. I’m dumbfounded at times, what do you see when you make the decision? They tried and gave their all. We won’t be gauged on Watford’s or Burnley’s, it’s the teams around us we need to pick results up against.

Ince on form

It's not a concern at all [six defeats in eight] when you think about them. QPR, we lose because of a penalty in the 87th minute, Swansea we’re 2-0 up and you should win the game, Burnley are top of the table, and you get robbed of a penalty. They’re games we’re in and games we could have won. It’s tough coming to Watford, not many will go and win at Watford. We lost Tom McIntyre yesterday and now we’ve lost our goalkeeper. We will see where we are in March. We’ve got to be positive; we can’t be half empty. We know where we are, we have an embargo, our squad is depleted, so you’re going to get that. Come December 10 you’re going to have Naby back, Liam Moore back, Joe will be back, so we will have a stronger, more experienced squad.

The bottom line is, whatever happens against Hull, we’re going to be midtable. If I’d have said to anyone connected to Reading Football Club pre-season that we’d be midtable after 21 games, we’d snap your hand off. This World Cup can’t come quick enough for us. Unless you experience an embargo, you won’t understand it. We started well, better than I thought we would myself, people have got a bit carried away, but I told you get a couple of injuries and things can happen. We are where we are as a club. Our remit is to stay in the league.

Ince on Tom McIntyre injury

He pulled his calf yesterday doing set pieces. Went to sprint near post and pulled it, four or five weeks. I’m drained myself; I don’t know about these players. Every time you turn a corner someone is getting injured. I’m not sure if I ran over a cat or something. As much as everyone is moaning about the World Cup in November, I’m actually over the moon.