Published: Saturday, 28th November, 2009 8:00pm

Rodgers rueful after Derby defeat

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READING boss Brendan Rodgers saw his side toss away three points, have a man sent off and end up with another in hospital on an incident-packed 2-1 defeat at Derby County.

When Royals went in front through Gylfi Sigurdsson's 56th minute opener it looked as though Rodgers' men were heading for the victory.

But the lead lasted just four minutes as Paul Green equalised then Rob Hulse scored an almost identical goal in the 74th minute to complete the Rams' comeback.

To compound Reading's misery, Brian Howard was taken to hospital with a suspected broken jaw following an accidental collision just 15 minutes into the game.

Then 10 minutes from time substitute Shane Long was shown a straight red for a late challenge on Derby full-back Fredrick Stoor that could earn the Republic of Ireland striker a three match ban.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing for Rodgers was the fact his side had done the hard work of grabbing the lead at Pride Park only to switch off and gift Nigel Clough's team two soft goals.

And in spite of all that, Royals still had two excellent chances to snatch at least a point at the death when Alex Pearce forced a stunning save from Stephen Bywater before Jobi McAnuff could only fire straight into the Rams' keeper's arms with the goal at his mercy.

The result ended Reading's three-match unbeaten run and Rodgers admitted: "We are very disappointed with the result. We spoke afterwards and our game management when we were 1-0 up was disappointing.

"It's hard to understand because we have clearly picked up in the last three or four games and achieved targets we set ourselves and we looked comfortable.

"We looked as though we could go on and score more goals but then we let in two soft goals which was disappointing from our point of view."

It was an even contest which both sides bossed at times and Royals deserved to edge ahead through Sigurdsson's crisp finish from 15 yards which went in off the post after Jay Tabb had weaved his way into the box.

But the visitors simply failed to track their men as Green burst forward to equalise from Gary Teale's cross.

Teale's cheeky back-heel then set up Jay McEverley whose centre was turned in by Ron Hulse.

Long, making his comeback from injury, was having an impact after replacing Simon Church at half-time.

But after seeing his legs whipped from underneath him by Stoor, the infuriated striker was late as he tried to block the clearance and he caught the Rams defender.

Still, Tyne and Wear official Haines lad let off Hulse for a similar challenge on Ingimarsson earlier in the match.

And Rodgers argued: "It was a definite sending off and it was a poor tackle by Shane.

"When Shane went to clear the ball he catches his foot, which is disappointing as he was working well before that and put pressure on their back four.

"In his defence though, the referee was poor because it was a free kick before, the defender has clearly fouled Shane and you can see that.

"There was a similar tackle [by Hulse] in the first half. Maybe not as bad but the same type of tackle, studs up.

"There's no argument with Shane's card, but if you look back we should have had a free kick in a very good position. Instead we ended up with a man sent off, which was a mistake by the official."

But he also added: "I don't like to comment too much on the referee to be honest and would prefer to focus on my own players and our performance, but he wasn't the best.

"We're disappointed to lose, but I can't be too disappointed over the last four games."

Meanwhile, Reading players said they were "disgusted" by the behaviour of Derby mascot Rammie the Ram while Howard was being treated for a serious facial injury.

`Rammie' began a boxing-style countdown, beating the ground near Howard as though accusing him of play-acting.

It was a sickening gesture as Howard writhed around in agony and the mystery man in the suit later admitted he had mis-read the situation and would apologise for his actions.

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