"You use that defeat as motivation as we never got anywhere near our game that day," the City boss said in referral to the defeat at Ashton Gate in November.
"We had to prove to ourselves that we can compete with teams like Reading and we came here and showed what a club we are.
"I treated it like a cup final as it was that important a game.
"It felt like that with the sun shining and 4,500 fans enjoying it.
"Coming on the coach to the ground, there were thousands of people walking in their colours and I mentioned to the team before the game that this was a cup final for us."