Reading boss Paul Ince fumes at his own players and the referee after a late sucker punch from Cardiff City on Friday night.
The Bluebirds picked up their first home win in 111 days, with Romaine Sawyers netting the only goal that saw them defeat Reading 1-0.
But it was in the 91st minute that the goal came, their 19th shot of the night, putting Sabri Lamouchi’s new team five points above the drop zone.
Their last win at home came 10 matches ago, nine in the Championship and one FA Cup match against Rotherham on the 29th of October.
Lamouchi is the club’s third manager of this season, with his first win on Tuesday night quickly followed by his home win, easing pressure on him and his side.
Paul Ince’s injury hit Reading ended a run of five games without a win in midweek when they won 2-1 at home against Rotherham, taking them 11 points clear of the relegation zone, so it’s a bog point dropped right at the end against Cardiff, and the scenes just showed how much it meant for the Welsh outfit.
CARDIFF TAKE THE LEAD 🔥💥 pic.twitter.com/zQGfNTTytg
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 17, 2023
Paul Ince launched a rant post-match, taking aim at Darren Bond for not sending off defender Mark McGuinness for a lunging tackle on Amadou Mbengue in the 38th minute.
He said, as per Berkshire Live: “It’s not really about that (contrasting emotions)… it’s the referee’s decision – it’s a blatant red card and like any red card, it changes the game. The referee has absolutely bottled it… and that’s why we talk about VAR.
“If this was Premier League it’s a blatant red card. Maybe it was too early for him… we had the same referee for QPR at home when we should have had a penalty with Long. Hopefully, I don’t get him again.
“I’ll get a call from Kevin Friend on Monday, saying that the referee got it wrong but that’s no good to us. That’s the most disappointing and frustrating thing for us.
“We know referees make mistakes – I make mistakes, you see my players make enough mistakes tonight. The big decisions like that, you’ve got to get right, especially in the crunch part of the season. He bottled it and didn’t make the right decision.
“But that doesn’t take away from the way we played. I thought we looked out of sorts from the first minute to the last, we never really got into any rhythm. Sometimes when you change five players, we looked like we struggled. We kept hitting it into Carroll too quickly, took too long – Cardiff did the same but hit the two centre forwards.
“All in all, we were thinking it was going to be a 0-0. We gave a stupid foul away. I said to the players, you need to look at yourselves. We look at ourselves as coaches [so] you need to look at yourselves as individuals and see some of the things you’re doing today.
“You look at that game and look at individuals and think what goes through their heads sometimes? Why do they make these decisions? And it’s the same, in the 89th minute, we give away a silly foul, we leave Carroll one v one with a winger. We don’t deal with the first header and the second header, and they get a shot deflected through Abbey’s legs and you lose 1-0.
“It was more the 10 minutes before that because Callum Robinson couldn’t walk and we were still defending from the edge of our box. You think, get yourselves up and try and win the game. Overall I normally say it how it is and I back my players but today there is no way I can back them. We were poor from the first minute to the 95th minute.
“It’s another game where we looked tired and sometimes when you’re tired you need to be at home for the final game of three [in a week] but it’s disappointing because you look at Sunderland and we could have nicked a point were it not for a mistake and today it’s another two points (combined) we would have got.
“It was a poor game of football, not a great spectacle so hopefully Sky won’t put us on anymore on a Friday night and we can start playing on a Saturday and not play three games in six days.
“I’m disappointed, just in the performance. I can take losing games but I’ve said to the players in the dressing room, you have to perform better than that. The ones who keep knocking on my door, saying they are ready to come in and all that…they have to look at themselves and generally as a team we were very, very poor.
“At no time did we look like threatening anyone, didn’t look like creating anything. It just shows when we haven’t got players like Tom Ince and players like that in the side – we can’t create. The amount of time we lost the ball in midfield, some of the times we lost the ball at the back – they [the players] dumbfound you as to why they were making these decisions. It was very, very poor.”
🗣️ “He absolutely bottled it, got it completely wrong.”
Paul Ince was not happy with the referee following Reading’s late defeat to Cardiff 😬🟥 pic.twitter.com/jdcgyxmXiJ
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 18, 2023
Cardiff City manager Sabri Lamouchi said: “I’m so proud of the players. It’s unbelievable what they’ve done this week, taking maximum points from the two games.
“You could see we played with so much more confidence after the win at Birmingham but we couldn’t find that last pass.
“But we were so focused right to the last minute. We didn’t panic, we created a lot and deserved the three points.”
This is how Twitter users reacted as Reading boss Paul Ince fumes at his players and the referee after a late sucker punch from Cardiff…
@DavidLe5129: He selected and set up the team, it’s not a great idea to then throw them under the bus, he’s gone way down in my estimates in recent weeks
@SamReyn02205733: What does he expect, we parked the bus from the first minute til the last, was evident in the lineup selection what the plan was, play for a draw and try and nick it late. Defensive, negative football.
@benja32min: blame everyone but yourself incey, sure that will win you many plaudits mate and bet the players will be up for it next time around!
@Ryan1871_: He’s like a broken record. Blames everyone but himself after every loss
@cian_paris: If you feel for the fans go over and show your appreciation
@_toosb: Blames the players, blames the officials, blames Sky TV. When is it ever his fault? An absolute arsehole of a man.
@rylie79: He has lost the plot
@CScott___: Honestly, listening to the drivel that comes out of his mouth makes it embarrassing supporting this club. Add in his ‘style’ of play . We are a joke of a club. Get him gone today.
@GoonieGraham: Seen teams with worse quality go and win games. About tactics and belief sometimes. He’s likely just killed any dressing room belief. Yes we can’t buy anyone but do we just give up and try to play like that every week. Poor excuses to me
@mattwilliams100: Truly baffling. Ince moaning about the ref but Cardiff were effectively down to ten men for the last ten minutes and we lost 1-0 in that time…
@TwoTeam_FC: I feel like he genuinely cares. Can’t blame him for being annoyed about playing 3 games in 6 days and all the players out but we still have to play to win and not play for the point
@CiaranMcc27: Such a dire dire game. No tactics whatsoever. Says a lot when Lumley’s last minute header is probably our closest opportunity of the game
@dadros70: It’s really not that difficult. Send the team out in a positive frame of mind where the objective and set up is to win the game. This means attempting to attack the opposition and take the game to them. Instead we set up to try and get a 0-0. Defending for 90 mins rarely works
@Arronflesch: Can only blame the ref so many times. It wasn’t a red. (Very close). Start looking at yourself more. Stop finding excuses like the weather was rubbish, what? have they never trained in those conditions before? Find out why we didn’t perform from the 1st minute.. coach them!
@JamzDe3rd: Blah blah blah, the take of a fan in the pub.
Truly baffling. Ince moaning about the ref but Cardiff were effectively down to ten men for the last ten minutes and we lost 1-0 in that time… https://t.co/N1gO6Eq3qn
— Matt Williams (@mattwilliams100) February 18, 2023
— Joshua Lamb (@lambeyyy1871) February 17, 2023
— Alister (@alisterrfc1) February 17, 2023

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