‘Welcome to not getting credit for anything’ – Millwall boss Gary Rowett reacts to comments from Reading boss Paul Ince

Paul Ince says Reading have not got the plaudits they deserved for their start to the Championship season – but Millwall counterpart Gary Rowett reckons that is something his side have experienced in the past too.

The Royals are third in the table ahead of Saturday’s meeting of the two clubs at The Den.

Millwall have a 100 per cent record on home turf this season and have won their last five there when you factor in the end of the 2021-22 campaign.

Asked about Ince’s comments, Rowett told the South London Press: “They are very much like us, aren’t they? When you win a game then usually it is that the other team hasn’t played well – welcome to not getting credit for anything. That’s just par for the course when you’re not a big, sexy team in this league.

“They’ve done fantastically well. I’ll certainly give them credit because they still have some very good players. Sometimes when a few players leave as well, maybe that galvanises the team a little bit more. Paul is an experienced manager, you don’t get much more experienced as a player – either.

“That’s when you have to earn your money and he has started the season really, really well. We’re always respectful of the opposition – I never under-estimate or would be disrespectful to an opponent. But they are coming to The Den and if we perform well then we have the capability to beat any team there. If we don’t then it is a different game.”

Reading defeated Middlesbrough last weekend and Ince told BBC Berkshire: “People need to start giving us credit.

“It was an amazing performance. After Wednesday you hear all these people say ‘Blackburn were terrible,’ but they need to start giving us credit. I hear it again [with] ‘Middlesbrough didn’t really show up, they weren’t great’ – we made them look average and we need to start getting credit for our performances. We were amazing, just in a different way.”