STEVE Clarke has challenged his players to bounce back in style at Bristol City.

Royals suffered their first defeat since the opening day of the season on Tuesday evening when Tom Ince gave Derby a 1-0 victory at the Madejski Stadium.

Clarke's men were on a seven game unbeaten run but fell to defeat after Orlando Sa saw red for an alleged headbutt in first-half added time.

A superb deadline day and equally impressive 5-1 rout of Ipswich last week saw expectation levels rise amongst Royals fans.

Clarke now wants his players to respond at Bristol and keep the feelgood factor around the club going as he aims to continue Reading's encouraging start to the season.

"In football, you can lose," he said. "It’s how you react to defeats that counts, and we’ll see how the reaction goes against Bristol City on Saturday.

“We had been on a good run so it was disappointing to break that run. But we just get ourselves ready for the next game and we’ll start to build another run – that’s the most important thing. 

“The players know that they had a decent performance against a good team."

Anton Ferdinand missed the game against Derby and he'll be assessed ahead of the game, with Orlando Sa the only other absentee as he begins his three-game suspension.

“Squad fitness is good," added the Reading boss. "More or less all of the regulars and established players are available. 

"We need to check on Anton today to see how his injury is, and we’ll make a decision over the next 48 hours to see whether he’ll be back involved.  But everybody else is fit and good to go. 

"Orlando’s red card gives other people a chance to stake a claim in the team. 

"That’s why you have a big squad and competition for places, and I Iook forward to seeing the boys that get a chance to play.”