READING FC boss Paul Ince admitted that his team ‘let themselves down’ despite being angered by the referees decision not to award Cardiff a red card in the first-half.
The Royals boss believes that Cardiff defender Mark McGuinness should have been sent off for his reckless tackle on Amadou Mbengue in the first-half.
“Referees will always make mistakes, like we do,” said Ince.
“But they’re paid to make the big decisions right and he bottled it, got it completely wrong.
“We had this referee one or two weeks ago when we should have had a penalty against QPR.
“How he cannot see the force and his studs up, it’s a blatant red card.”
Despite that decision, Ince admitted that his team did not show enough desire to win the match.
He continued: “That doesn’t take away from the fact we were poor tonight. It was one of those horrible games and you could tell it was our third game in six days.
“We never got started from the first minute. It was a scrappy, horrible Friday night.
“There was nothing much between the two teams.
“We never showed any desire or intensity to go and win the game.
“As a spectacle, it wasn’t a great game.
“We have to move on. We let ourselves down in our performance. We had five players come in today but they should have been fresh and ready to show they’re ready to be in my side.
“Well done to Cardiff and we move on.”
