Reading boss likens Wigan Athletic trip to going to Wimbledon with Manchester United

Paul Ince compared Reading's battling victory at Wigan Athletic to visiting the old 'Crazy Gang' of Wimbledon during his Manchester United days.
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The Royals boss was speaking after watching his son, Tom, score the only goal of a scrappy game at the DW.

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"We knew we were coming to a tough place in Wigan, as we needed to put a performance in," said Ince senior.

Callum Lang gets stuck in against ReadingCallum Lang gets stuck in against Reading
Callum Lang gets stuck in against Reading
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"You know how Wigan are going to play, they get it up to Josh Magennis, with (Will) Keane and (James) McClean and (Callum) Lang coming inside.

"It was a real battle today, where we had to earn the right to play.

"I've been to Wimbledon with Man United, against John Fashanu and Vinnie Jones, and you're thinking 'Jesus Christ, here we go'.

"But if you can win the battle, then you can get the ball down and play.

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"And I thought that's what we did...we battled and battled and battled, and once it opened up we played some good stuff."

After a relatively dull opening hour, the game sprung to life after the goal on 63 minutes.

Ince junior headed another chance over from bang in front, before Latics had Ben Amos to thank for denying Yakou Meite.

Latics, too, had chances in the final quarter, with Keane heading against a post, before Lang blazed over the top when clean through.

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“We did a lot of homework on Wigan in a very short space of time – so we knew what to expect," added the Reading chief.

"We deserved to be in front, and the only disappointment for me was that we weren't two or three goals up.

“We got a bit fortunate, they’ve hit the post and they’ve hit one over the bar – but we’ve had two absolute sitters.

"Tom should have scored his header to make it 2-0...he isn't the best header of a ball, but my daughter would have scored that.

"Yak's got to score as well, and that's game dead at 3-0.

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"If you don't kill games at this level, you're risking being punished.

"What happened was we got deeper and deeper, and the way Wigan play they like to go long, back to front quickly.

"If we'd have come in and not won, that would have really hurt, because we really deserved to win."