Jason Pearce's 17th minute strike was enough to condemn the Royals to back-to-back home defeats in the Championship.

The last two performances at the Madejski Stadium have been woeful and Clarke refused to defend his side after witnessing them being booed off by a frustrated home crowd.

"A little bit of me is embarrassed to be coach of a team that plays like that,” he said. “Especially first half. It wasn't a good game, not a good performance and obviously a terrible result. 

"We didn't turn up for the first half, we allowed Wigan to get in front and the second half was a consequence of the first half performance, not acceptable." 

"The players ran around, they put everything into the game but they didn't put any quality in the game. Look at the quality of the last two home games, not just from us but the overall quality.”

The Reading boss hinted at the state of the pitch being a factor and admitted that it's a tough balancing act with the revenue brought in from London Irish.

“It's very frustrating,” he added. “We look to the pitch a little bit, it doesn't help us, to be fair to the club they didn't spend anything on it in the summer because of the financial situation at the time.

“And they need the rugby revenue so it's catch 22. But we have to find a way to counter-act it and maybe I need to find a different approach at home.

"It's something I've got to look long and hard at, I need to find a different way to play here. Maybe I need to change the team a little bit.”

Reading now face successive away games at Ipswich Town and Huddersfield Town before returning to the Madejski Stadium and Clarke admits that a break from playing at home with increased pressure is welcome.

He added: “When you see us play away the performances have been good but here, the performances are of a team that's going to fight relegation.

“We've got two away games before Nottingham Forest here so it gives me time to try to find a solution.”