JOEY van den Berg admitted Reading FC “killed themselves” with their possession and passing game after failing to break down a resolute Queens Park Rangers on Thursday evening.

Reading were looking for their sixth successive home win in a row, but instead found themselves falling to only their second defeat of the campaign at Madejski Stadium.

Former Royals loanee Jamie Mackie got Ian Holloway’s side ahead in the first-half, and Reading remained patient as they tried to work an opening through the opposition’s back line.

Jaap Stam’s men stuck to their favoured possession-based style of football throughout the match, which had recently helped them turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 victory away at Ashton Gate.

But things did not quite work out for the Royals on a bitterly cold Thursday night.

“It was a bit of a bad day at the office,” admitted van den Berg.

“In the end they played very defensively and we eventually got ourselves in the game.

“We did the same against Bristol City but this time we couldn’t turn it around.

“I think we know when teams come here they are going to defend. We need to deal with that.

“We were too slow and we couldn’t break down their defence. We had one big chance throughout the hole game and it wasn’t enough to force a draw or a victory.”

Captain Paul McShane and fellow defender Tyler Blackett both missed the game through injury, meaning van den Berg had to step in as a makeshift centre-back once again.

The Dutchman revealed that injuries cannot be blamed for the Royals’ poor performance however.

“There were a few changes to the team but I don’t think that was the biggest problem,” he declared.

“We killed ourselves with our possession game and they were waiting for the counter attack “It’s a disappointing result but in the end we are in a good position and we can’t despair.”

Despite suffering a defeat in the hoops derby, Reading remain in third place in the Championship table.

The loss did squander a chance to narrow the gap on Newcastle and Brighton however.

“This can happen and sometimes you need to just take the defeat,” concluded van den Berg.

“It was harsh because I don’t think they were better than us.

“I don’t think we lacked spirit. It was our positioning on the field and how we reacted.

“The spirit is always good in the team and we are confident with what we are doing.

“In certain games there is a different aspect in the game or a certain approach you need to handle and we didn’t do that well against QPR.”