What Paul Ince had to say about Reading's defeat to Blackpool after enduring miserable return to Bloomfield Road

"It wasn’t a bad performance, but it was a bad result".
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That was the verdict of Paul Ince as he endured a miserable return to Bloomfield Road.

Blackpool had to come from behind to record their 4-1 win though, as their midweek woes were compounded when they conceded a soft goal early into the first-half, Lucas Joao the beneficiary of some poor defending.

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But Neil Critchley’s side responded well, levelling through Marvin Ekpiteta’s header - which was the defender’s second goal in as many games.

Gary Madine headed Blackpool in front before late goals from substitute Shayne Lavery and Josh Bowler made sure of the victory.

The defeat was a bitter blow for Ince, who copped some flack from the Blackpool fans along with son Tom, who had a tough afternoon up against Dujon Sterling.

Ince said: "We get the early goal and you’re thinking ‘great’, but we give a poor first goal away, really poor.

Ince endured a miserable return to Bloomfield RoadInce endured a miserable return to Bloomfield Road
Ince endured a miserable return to Bloomfield Road
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"This has not just been for me, this has been throughout the season - conceding stupid goals, making silly errors.

"I said to them before the game ‘we know what we’re going to get from Blackpool, nothing’s going to surprise you. They’re going to go long into Madine, get bits around there, Bowler, Hamilton'.

"There were no surprises, so when you go 1-0 up you think ‘okay, settle down.’ Then we give a silly goal away, not marking…keeper comes out and before you know it it’s 1-1, changes the course of the game.

"But I said to the lads at half-time ‘we’re still in the game, consider it 0-0.’

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"If we get the second goal I think we go on to win the game. If I said to you guys ‘4-1, we got beat 4-1’ you’ll think ‘how the hell was it 4-1?’

"Because up to the last 10 minutes when we’re trying to chase it and we open ourselves up - but as far as the first 25 minutes of the second half there was a lot of positive stuff to come out of it.

"But it’s about getting results, about getting the points on the board. But listen, I’ve said to the lads in there ‘just keep believing’. We had a great result (against Birmingham City) on Tuesday night and then you come here and it’s a bad result.

"It wasn’t a bad performance but it was a bad result.

"The way we conceded the goals, defensively we’re making silly little errors. And when it’s 2-1 I said to them ‘stay in the game’. We’ve seen the record of Blackpool, in the last 15 minutes (of games this season) they’ve conceded 13 goals."

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