READING FC boss Paul Clement branded their 4-0 thrashing by Ipswich Town ‘shameful and embarrassing’ as their relegation battle goes down to the wire.

Royals slumped to their heaviest home league defeat in more than 11 years after a dismal display against the managerless Tractor Boys.

All four goals came in the last 20 minutes after some shambolic defending from Clement’s men, leaving them 19th in the Championship table and just two points above the drop zone going into the final game.

Royals now face the daunting prospect of having to avoid defeat at second-placed Cardiff City this Sunday to keep their fate in their own hands (12.30pm ko) and avoid being caught by Birmingham, Barnsley and Burton.

Reading Chronicle:

Freddie Sears puts Ipswich Town 3-0 up at Madejski Stadium.

And Clement did not hold back when it came to assessing his team’s woeful showing against Ipswich in the last home game of the season.

“We got what we deserved in the end because we weren’t professional for the entire game,” he fumed.

“I can’t ever remember a situation where I’ve had to speak about a performance like that.

“It was shameful and embarrassing from the point where they got their first goal until the end of the game.

“It was completely unacceptable and I feel really sorry for our fans who came to see the team get over the line and get a positive result to ensure our status at this level next season.”

He added: “The first half was quite tight and I thought we started the second half brightly. We had a sweeping counter attack from our box to theirs then their keeper made a good save from John Swift’s shot by tipping it over the bar.

“It was a lovely move, but if we score that it would have given us the impetus to get the point or points that we needed.

“But from having the ball on the edge of their box, they broke, we missed a tackle and the final positions for the first goal were terrible. The second goal was terrible, the third was terrible and by the time the fourth went in – which was a decent finish – we were all over the place.

“It was very, very poor professionalism and tactical discipline.”

Reading Chronicle:

Reading fell to their heaviest home league defeat for more than 11 years on Saturday.

Martyn Waghorn broke the deadlock for Ipswich in the 71st minute before Jordan Spence added a second eight minutes later.

Worse was to come as Freddie Sears and Callum Connolly both scored in extra time to compound Reading’s misery ahead of a tense final day in South Wales.

The clash at Cardiff City Stadium is already a sell-out and will be screened live on Sky Sports, with Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds also need to win to secure automatic promotion and join Wolves in the Premier League next season.

“We’ve got eight days until the next game, but this result and performance are going to hurt for a while,” added Clement. “But we have a good number of training days before the Cardiff game.

“It’s a situation we wanted to avoid where we have to go to Cardiff and get a positive result, but it’s down to us now.

Reading Chronicle:

John Swift and Sone Aluko cannot hide their disappointment at the final whistle after a 4-0 loss to Ipswich.

“We’ve had lots of opportunities to get the points we needed and in previous weeks results have gone our way.

“But all of a sudden they haven’t and there’s tension with Barnsley and Burton winning so it goes to the last game.

“Everyone was embarrassed. I think the performance at the end of the game was so poor it went beyond having to point any fingers.

“But I can assure our fans that the individuals responsible will know about it.”