Blues boss Paul Jewell was left feeling “sick” after his side surrendered a 2-1 lead late on for the second week running. The Town manager again cited individual errors as his team conceded twice from set pieces, just as they did at Nottingham Forest a week ago.
Jewell said: "We didn’t play great, it was a nervous performance and in the situation we’re in that’s going to be the case.
"If we could have hung on for the win, it would have been great for the confidence but the goals we’re giving away from set plays and the third one are just beyond comprehension really. Sick is the right word.”
The Blues manager said players weren’t doing their jobs: "If there was never a mistake in a game, every game would end 0-0, but people have got their man to mark and they didn’t, basically. We got away with a couple in the first half as well.
"Individual errors cost us. What we’re trying to do from the throw-in [on the third], I just don’t know. From that, you get the feeling they’re going to score because that’s the way it is with us at the moment.
"We should have seen the last two games out. If we were mentally tough we should have got six points out of the last two games. But at the moment, because our confidence is so low, every time the ball goes in our box we’re nervous.”
Jewell said he brought on Jimmy Bullard late on to try to help see the game out: "We tried to play 4-3-3 and just shore it up a little bit, but we didn’t keep the ball, we didn’t pass the ball really, but even so, the goals we gave away didn’t come from that, they came from people not marking.”
One positive was Daryl Murphy’s performance and goal: "Considering he hasn’t played for a while, I thought Daryl did very well. His goal was great for him.”
The Town manager says skipper Grant Leadbitter is likely to miss out at Burnley on Tuesday, while keeper David Stockdale and Ibrahima Sonko are doubts: "Grant’s got a nasty groin injury, so that was why we had to make that substitution. We tried to put Reece in there but unfortunately we couldn’t keep them out.
"I would have thought Grant would be out for Tuesday. He limped badly into the dressing room so I would have thought so.
"Stocks did his shoulder in training on Monday afternoon. We don’t think it’s too serious but we don’t know if he’ll be available for Tuesday. Richard wasn’t to blame for any of the goals.
"Sonko’s only trained once with the first team [after his hamstring injury], so we’ll have to see how he comes through tomorrow and Monday.
"I think we’ll have to make one or two changes for injuries [at Burnley]. We’ll have to see how everyone is in the morning.”
Reading manager Brian McDermott admitted he wasn’t confident of a victory as the 90-minute mark approached: "I thought it was going to go against us again at 2-1 down with not long to go.
"I thought we started the game really well, the first 20 minutes. We didn’t get the goal we needed in the first half, then we gave a goal away for a set play which was disappointing. We got back into the game, then we gave another goal away that we’re not happy with.
"But I always feel that with the team that we’ve got and with the group of people that we’ve got, we can score late goals.
"When it got back to two-all, there’s a lot of difference between one point and three and we thought the third goal was a quality goal. I’m delighted with the win.”