Paul Ince makes Reading demand ahead of relegation run in

Interim Reading boss Paul Ince has called for his side to be hard to beat and use their flair in the final third to keep them afloat this season.

The Royals currently find themselves 21st in the Sky Bet Championship in a relegation scrap, albeit with a small buffer of five points between themselves and the drop zone.

Ince, who took over as interim manager last month, has now revealed what he believes Reading must do in order to maintain that gap and retain their Championship status.

“We’ve still got a small buffer.” Ince said via the Reading club website.

“But you can’t keep looking over your shoulder and asking how Barnsley are doing, how Peterborough are doing, how are Derby doing…we have to start thinking about ourselves.”

“Everyone is fighting for their lives down there. And that is what we’ve got to understand.”

“But we can’t panic. We’ve got 11 games to go. The next three games are going to be tough – against three teams in the top ten in the league. But they are all going to be tough games from here on in.

“We’ve got to get points on the board, we’ve got to be hard to beat and use our flair in the final third. But we can’t panic, we’ve got to play and enjoy the challenge.”

Under Ince, Reading have managed to pick up one win from three so far – a 2-1 win over Birmingham City in his first game in charge.

Despite back-to-back defeats, including a 1-0 home loss to Millwall last weekend, Ince says he feels like he is starting to get his ideas across.

“We’ve been able to implement a bit more of what we want to see this week, structure, organisation and not just playing expansive football.” he continued.

“It’s a balance. Defending is not just about the defence, it’s about the whole team’s structure. That allows us to go