HUNT: WE NEED TO BE BRAVE

PAUL Ince used his final address as Reading manager to claim that Pep Guardiola wouldn’t make a better fist of staying in the Championship.

- Chris Dunlavy

“It would be no different because we’ve got eight first-team players out,” said the former Manchester United skipper, who was sacked on Tuesday with Reading languishing 22nd in the division.

What hope, then, for Noel Hunt? The former Royals striker, 40, has been promoted from his role as Under-21 manager with a brief to restore sagging belief and raise spirits sufficiently to win two of Reading’s final four games.

It will not be easy. A long-mooted six-point deduction for breaching the terms of an agreed business with the EFL was finally imposed a fortnight ago, plunging the Royals from a position of relative safety to the thick of a relegation dogfight.

Reading, though, were already tumbling before sanctions intervened. The Berkshire side had won just two of their last 17 matches ahead of yesterday’s clash with Burnley, and none at all since the end of February. Since the turn of the year, only Blackpool and QPR have collected fewer points.