A 93rd minute header from Bryan Ruiz gave Fulham all three points on a cold day by the Thames.

The late goal came out of nothing and was a cruel blow for Reading, who had dominated since Pavel Pogrebnyak's 63rd minute header cancelled out Alexander Kacaniklic's opener.

Clarke said it was best performance under him and the 21 shots and 12 corners they forced throughout the game backed that up, as the travelling 2,700 Reading fans were left to head back up the M4 wondering how their side had lost.

In the closing stages it was Reading who poured forward as Simon Cox saw his close-range effort rightly disallowed for offside, whilst Nick Blackman was inches away from connecting with a Garath McCleary through ball late on.

But it was the hosts - and Ruiz - who had the final say as they struck late on to seal all three points, leaving Clarke to suggest that perhaps his side has gone too attacking in a bid to win the game.

“I'd have been disappointed with a point so you can imagine how we're feeling after allowing that point to slip away from our grasp,” he said. “We have to learn a lesson from that as it was a game that we should've won.

“Maybe we got a little bit carried away attacking our fans and feeling we could get the three points but we'll learn that lesson and make sure it won't happen again.

Although Clarke was hurting with the late result, he admitted that the performance was the best he had seen since taking charge.

“It was probably the best team performance since I came to the club,” he added. “But when you sit at home on a Saturday night with no points after a good performance then it doesn't feel right.”

“We were the better team in the first-half and dominant in the second-half.

“I'm sure the positives are there. When I sit down tomorrow and analyse it and look at the team performance I’ll see more than a few positives but tonight you'll have to let me sulk a bit as that one hurt.”