Reading FC manager Paul Ince after the Royals defeated Huddersfield Town at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
Tom McIntyre headed Reading in front before an own goal and a Yakou Meite goal from the bench consolidated the points, despite a consolation strike from the visitors in stoppage time.
Ince was delighted with his team’s performance in the first-half.
“The first 45 minutes, yes. The second 45 we came off it a bit which you can understand,” said Ince.
“You subconsciously start to defend deep and allow them to take control of the game, that’s something we can’t do on Tuesday.
“The first 45 minutes, we were excellent. People look at us as a counter attacking team and there have been games where we’ve let teams take the initiative and that has ended in us having a slow start.
“But at home we have to start getting on the front foot and to be fair to the players they were excellent at that today.
“We looked a very good side and defensively we were stable. I said at half-time we had to keep doing the basic rights, concentrate and we went completely the other way.
“We got sloppy with our passing but luckily got a third goal. But I’m thoroughly happy with the performance.”
Ince gave an injury update after Andy Yiadom was forced off, while Baba Rahman missed out after picking up an injury in training.
However, he praised the impact of Nesta Guiness-Walker who had a superb game at left-back.
He continued: “I don’t know. It’s been a bad couple of days for us. We lost Baba on Thursday and hes; out for a month.
“Yids (Andy Yiadom) is with the doctor now. We can’t afford to lose him, that’ll be another massive blow to us. We’ll find out the diagnosis tomorrow but it’s not looking good.
“The kid (Nesta Guiness-Walker) is only young, we got him from Wimbledon. We threw him straight into it.
“He’s still developing and learning. He was excellent today and has been out of the side since Baba came in.
“He doesn’t moan, always wants to do extra, is always asking questions and I love it. To perform the way he did was heroic.
“That’s why I’m so proud of the players because it’s needs must. Some of his skills and crossing, it was a delight and he’s got an opportunity with Baba being out.”
Ince is still staying focused on the task at hand to keep the club in the Championship, despite being this in the table.
“No, why would I? I’m not going to change the way I see things. We have to stay in this league.
“When we get there, we will see where we are. We’ve been here before, we played Sunderland at home, and everyone got a bit excited, and we got our arses felt.
“We can’t get complacent. We’ve got to play Watford, West Brom, Norwich, it can change. We have to get to 45 points as soon as possible.”