STEPHEN Kelly accepted Reading FC got what they deserved after dropping two precious points against Millwall.

Royals took a ninth minute lead when skipper Sean Morrison headed home his first goal of the season.

But Nigel Adkins’ hosts shot themselves in the foot deep into injury time when keeper Adam Federici gave away a penalty which Liam Trotter converted to earn the Lions a point.

A gutted Kelly declared: “It’s two points dropped. We didn’t flatter on the day and Millwall had the better of us for long spells. But when you are 1-0 up going into the last minute of the game in this league you need to be able to see it out.

“To concede a goal in the last minute and effectively lose two points is very frustrating.

“It was by no means a fantastic performance from us but this league is all about it winning when you aren’t playing too well.

“It would have been a great result for us if we had come away with a win. We would have gone back to the drawing board and discussed what we did wrong. But you still go home positive as you’ve taken all three points,

“That’s why to concede a sloppy goal like we did was so disappointing.”

Reading remain unbeaten at home this season and Saturday’s result moved them up to fifth in the Championship table.

But Kelly, who came off the bench to replace Wayne Bridge in the second half, knows they can do better.

“We didn’t pass the ball well enough,” confessed the 30-year-old full back. “So you have to say Millwall probably deserved something from the game.

“We didn’t perform well at all and Millwall caused us problems. They put us under pressure and kept the ball better than we did. It was very frustrating at times.

“We were 1-0 up, it’s a game where we should be saying that we didn’t play well but picked up three points. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that which is so disappointing.”

To compound Reading’s frustrations, Federici believed he touched the ball first before bringing down Millwall’s Scott McDonald for the game-changing penalty.

“Feds says he got a touch on the ball so it’s frustrating for us,” added Kelly. “When you are chasing promotion you want to pick up as many points as you can, especially at home. It was a frustrating but we’ve got another big game coming up this Saturday and we need to concentrate on that now.”

Reading travel to rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday this Saturday (3pm ko).