Ince: We’ve got to be ruthless
PAUL Ince urged his Reading players to sharpen up in attack as they eased their Championship relegation fears.
Reading wasted numerous first-half chances, although Blackburn were also indebted to a series of fine saves from keeper Thomas Kaminski.
Josh Laurent broke the deadlock – and secured the valuable three points – with a superb 25-yard drive in the 78th minute.
“Defensively, we were outstanding,” said interim boss Ince. “The back four had to defend at times because it all got a little bit nervy.
“In many ways it was probably a perfect performance – apart from the chances we missed in the first half. We should have been 3-0 up at half-time.
“We need to be more ruthless. That makes it a much easier day for the old ticker!
“But, then again, listen – it was a clean sheet, which is very important, and we also got that amazing goal from Josh. It was a real wonder goal.”
Rovers, who dropped from fourth to fifth place after Sheffield United’s victory, started sluggishly in the Berkshire sunshine. Promising moves often broke down on the edge of the home area, with striker Sam Gallagher isolated up front and lacking service.
Searching low crosses from Reda Khadra and Ryan Giles did cause problems, but no team-mates were on hand to provide what would have been close-range finishes.
It was Reading, though, who created the first chance, when Tom McIntyre crossed from the left flank.
Tom Ince controlled the ball well but his resultant effort was too close to Kaminski, who made a smothering save.
Kaminski was soon in action again, first tipping over an angled drive from Andy Yiadom and then keeping out Lucas Joao’s goalbound downward header.
Blackburn regained some form of control at the start of the second half, with Tyrhys Dolan and Gallagher both off target with ambitious snapshots.
Reading replied through defender McIntyre, whose low effort from the edge of the Rovers area was pushed away by the agile Kaminski.
Full-back Darragh Lenihan then nodded a good opportunity straight at Nyland.
Reading hit back and went in front 12 minutes from time, when Laurent picked up a loose ball and curled home an exquisite effort past Kaminski.
Try as they did towards the end, Rovers were unable to find the equaliser.
“I haven’t got many thoughts on that game, other than it’s so disappointing,” said Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray.
“It’s yet another game where we failed to score a goal. A lot of the time, we just huffed and puffed.
“I thought we were pretty dominant for the first 20 minutes. There was only one team in it. But Reading ground their way back into the game and had some efforts towards the end of the first half.”