Paul Ince: Reading boss says they better prepared for crucial Championship game at Sunderland
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Reading have three wins, three draws and four losses from their last 10 Championship games
Reading boss Paul Ince says his side are better prepared to face Sunderland in the Championship compared to their first meeting earlier this season.
His side were dominated by the Black Cats at the Select Car Leasing stadium back in September and lost 3-0.
"We lost to Sunderland last time for two reasons and one was my fault", Ince told BBC Radio Berkshire.
"We played five in midfield but we weren't going anywhere so I went to a four and that's when we conceded.
"I take full responsibility for that - that was my cock up."
Reading, who are 16th in the Championship table, are seven places below Sunderland and have three wins, three draws and four losses from their past 10 games but Ince hopes his side will feel less pressure when they take on the Black Cats this time.
"Last time, I think it was a game that if we had won we would have gone top of the table and you could sense the nervousness in the players and we didn't really perform," he said.
"It's going to be a tough game for us in-front of 38 to 40 thousand fans and with that crowd behind them it is going to be tough.
"Revenge is never on my mind, it's not a word I like to use, but we have to perform a lot better than we did last time at home."
'We have to keep fighting'
Reading will be without midfielder Mamadou Loum who is serving a two match suspension after the Porto loanee picked-up his 10th yellow card of the season against Watford last weekend.
"It was a stupid tackle," Ince said of Loum's challenge, which resulted in him being booked.
"The Watford player was going away from goal and he [Loum] doesn't need to make the challenge and now we've lost him for two games - it's something he will have to learn from.
"But on the positive side Andy Carroll is back and that's good.
"We are still waiting on Lucas Joao and he will be a last minute call before the game."
Reading are six points off the Championship playoff places with 17 matches left to play this season.
"We just have to keep building the points tally which is not easy, it's going to be tough," Ince added.
"We can't keep coming back from 2-0 down like we did last weekend against Watford.
"We have to keep competing and keep fighting until the very end."
