Paul Ince speaks out on Reading’s relegation battle as Barnsley, Derby, Peterborough and more fight for survival

Reading have had a torrid season so far but after two wins on the bounce in their last two league games, they’ll be hoping to try and pull away from the relegation places.

They’ve now put a six point gap between themselves and Derby in 22nd but there are still plenty of games to be played and based on the way the Rams have performed so far this campaign, you would fancy Wayne Rooney’s side to keep plugging away at the gap.

Paul Ince himself, the current interim boss at the Royals, has admitted via Derbyshire Live that the club’s relegation battle will ‘go down to the wire.’

With the side suffering a points deduction and struggling to pick up points, they have sunk towards the bottom of the division despite spending last year (and the beginning of this one) near the play-off places.

It has led to the departure of manager Veljko Paunovic despite a win over Preston at the weekend and Ince has managed to get off to a flying start after sealing a win over Birmingham last night.

If they can keep up this kind of form, then there is every chance that Reading could begin to pull away from the drop zone but their current boss has admitted that despite their current gap it will still be a close one for the Royals.

He said to Derbyshire Live: “It’s going to go down to the wire, let me tell you that.

“We’ve got a nice little gap but teams still have to play on Wednesday night. We talk about Barnsley and Peterborough….and Wazza [Wayne Rooney] is doing an amazing job at Derby.

“People seem to think it’s just four teams but it’s not. If we can keep winning games then we’ll drag others into it.”

Right now, any one of the three teams in the relegation places could dream of a drop zone escape, whilst Reading and even Hull and Cardiff will