GEORGE Evans admitted scoring his first Reading FC goal to salvage a point against Derby County was tinged with disappointment.

Evans opened his Royals account by netting a 90th-minute equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Madejski Stadium in front of his family on Saturday.

But while the ex-Manchester City midfielder was happy to savour the “special” moment and his man-of-the-match performance, there was an element of frustration in his voice after the final whistle.

He told the Reading Chronicle: “All my family have come down from Manchester, so to score my first Reading goal in front of them was really special.

“I was delighted to get man of the match, but we were a bit gutted we didn’t get three points.

“I thought we had a fantastic first half, but we didn’t take that into the second.

“Derby came out really strong after the break. I was delighted to score the equaliser but we were at home and we pride ourselves on winning all three points.

“It was my first Reading goal and it was a nice time to get it. But I thought we should have scored maybe a goal or two in the first half, which would have stood us in good stead.”

Evans’ goal meant Reading preserved their unbeaten home record this season and avoided back-to-back Championship defeats after a the heavy 4-1 loss at Brentford a few days earlier.

The 21-year-old added: “It could be an important point for us. The lads were bitterly disappointed after the Brentford game. It wasn’t good enough.

“We looked at the video clips with the manager to see where we went wrong and how we could improve.

“Yes, we hit the post twice, so maybe it could have been a different game, but obviously that’s not an excuse.

“We knew we would need to have a lot of energy for Saturday’s game and I thought we played really well in the first half.

“We’re delighted to have secured the draw but disappointed not to take all three points from a home game.”

The result left Reading eighth in the Championship table going into the international break.

Jaap Stam’s men return to action on Saturday, October 15, when they face QPR at Loftus Road.

And Evans insists there will be plenty of hard work ahead on the training field.

“We’re happy with the start we’ve had to the season, but we’ve got to keep improving,” he declared.

“We have a fantastic set of players and the coaching staff are second to none. You learn from the best here, we are getting better every day.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks without a game now, but we’ll keep working hard and hopefully we’ll keep picking up good results."