Lucas Joao's brace, on his 29th birthday, was enough for Reading to pick up a 2-1 win over Stoke City in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Here is every word from Royals boss Paul Ince.

Ince on the win

It’s good to get a good performance and a bounce back after Tuesday. I said to the players it’s not about winning, it’s about performing. We performed today in every department. That’s all you can ask.

Ince on the opening goal

It’s about time we got a gift. It’s about time we got something like that. It was a good performance, but the lad on the line but we needed it as we looked a bit nervy at the start, which is unlike us as we usually start well at home. The goal settled us down and we looked like the only team who was going to win the game.

Ince on the game

Shane Long should score and it’s 2-0, supposedly, it’s game over. It gives you some breathing space. We don’t deal with the first header and the second one in the box. You go in at half time and think how has that happened. You’ve seen these players, you know what they’re like, the spirit and togetherness. they came out in the second half and were incredible in every department. It is very important to get three points before you go to Watford. It’s a great response and a great bounce back. My mind doesn’t change, it’s about being competitive and strong at home- it’s a tough place to come here now. The referee makes a blatant penalty to make it 3-1, you’ve got to get that. I’ve seen it four or five times now and you think how can you not see that, he said it was too close. It baffles me. What I’m seeing different now with these players is I’m a lot more confident we can see games out now. Sometimes we might not…but we’re learning how to see out games. That’s important for me going forward.

Ince on Naby Sarr and Mamadou Loum injuries

We lost Naby Sarr and Mama [Mamadou Loum] yesterday in training- big players. He trained and felt his groin, 10 minutes into training. If I’m being honest with you, if he would’ve played, I would’ve played Shane [Long] on his own. That’s not disrespectful to Lucas [Joao] it’s just that he played against Millwall and Sheffield United having just come back from injury so it’s about sharing the load. I probably got away with that to be fair. It worked well at times with two of them up front. He’s going for an MRI scan tomorrow and see what the problem is, he could be out for a couple of weeks along with Naby.

Ince on being 2nd in the league

It's not worth jack****. I don’t know why you keep asking me, you know what I’m like.

Ince on bouncing back after defeat

You know with this crowd that they’re with these players. Everyone is going to have a dip in the season. For me while we’re playing well at home I want to pick up as many points as we can because the aim has to be to stay in this league. Getting another three points today was great. We know we have a spirit and togetherness. We’re asking to same players to keep performing. In October we have seven games, which is pure madness, but we just keep going, battling and fighting for each other. You’re not always going to win games, you might go through spells where you lose four or five, but you know somewhere down the line we won’t stop giving up with this siege mentality we have at this club.

Ince on Lucas Joao

I said to him if you work hard, you get your goals. He worked really hard, last minute he’s at our box. He was outstanding and got his goals. Tom, to play in the midfield, was phenomenal. Premier League stuff for me today, whether it’s because he was against his old club I don’t know. All in all it’s been a good day. All I need is Manchester United to win.

Ince on Baba Rahman and Junior Hoilett

Baba has not played for three and a half weeks so we couldn’t really throw him in there. To be fair to Junior [Hoilett] he’s deserved his place as we’ve asked him to play in so many positions and he doesn’t moan, just gets on with it. I love the kid, the ultimate professional. I say to my young kids to watch him, he’s in early morning, after training and the gym. He’s had three days off so I knew he would blow up at some time and Baba hasn’t played a game, so it worked well. I’ve always wanted to look at the wing-back system with Yids and Baba. It was great to get him some minutes on the park. Gradually we’re getting people back but it’s still not enough.