READING FC manager Paul Ince admitted his team ‘didn’t perform’ in their 2-1 home defeat to Preston North End.
Ched Evans netted a brace either side of Lucas Joao’s penalty to give the visitors three points.
“It wasn’t an entertaining game. It was poor,” said Ince.
“We got more tired than they did and I would expect that with three games in six days.
“We lacked intensity, tempo and our passing was sloppy. The first half was poor from both teams. I said to the players at half-time ‘that is not acceptable’.
“Only when we got the equaliser we looked like we were going to win the game.”
Ince believes that his team deserve to take a point but was disappointed in the manner of the winning goal.
He continued: ”No team deserved to win. I think a draw was the right result. We had to switch on and focus, block shots and we didn’t for the second goal.
“Being at home we should have had that extra step to go and win the game. They were in the same situation (Playing three games in six days) and were away from home
“We didn’t perform and that’s the bottom
Retention of the ball up front was poor. We were trying to go from back to front too quickly. Sometimes you have to keep the ball.
“From an attacking point of view we looked tired up front.
“We have a tendency to always want to go into AC (Andy Carroll) and that’s something we need to look at.
“You’ve got to make sure you don’t lose the game and that was poor from us.
“We go to Watford on Tuesday and we have to be at it or we won’t stand a chance.”
