STEVE Clarke labelled the visiting bench “ridiculous” for their reaction to Jordan Obita's challenge that sparked a 22-man brawl during Reading's goalless draw with Espanyol

Obita flew in recklessly to a challenge near the touchline and many members of the Espanyol bench rushed onto the pitch to confront the left-back.

It ended with Obita and Alvaro Gonzalez seeing red – and although Clarke accepted the challenge was worthy of a red card, he labelled the reaction from the visitors as a contributing factor to the scenes that followed.

“Yeah, it was a red card,” acknowledged Clarke. “I think he slipped a little bit going into the challenge but if you go by the rules then it was a red card so I can't really defend him but he's young and he'll learn.

“You can't defend the reaction of their bench, it was ridiculous. They ended up getting their own man sent off which is the point I was trying to make to their coach when Orlando Sa was chopped down in front of our bench minutes later.

“There was no reaction from us, they have to show more common sense.

“The incident came out of the blue a little bit. It was a technical game with no real chances, a lot of passing and then it boiled over in the second-half for no real reason.”

Reading struggled to create many chances throughout the game, with a 25-yard effort from Orlando Sa the only shot on target the Royals managed.

But despite chances being at a premium, Clarke remained adamant that there were positives to take from the contest.

He said: “We put some decent balls in the box, Stephen Quinn and Jordan Obita delivered some dangerous balls.

“Danny Williams had a shot at the back post, Nick Blackman hesitated when he could've got a shot away but there was some good signs.

“I thought we were quite bright, we passed it well and in that team today were some good footballers.

“They should pass it well, when you've got good footballers in your team you expect to pass it well and we did that.”