Reading manager Paul Ince felt that the Royals deserved to reach a penalty shootout, losing in the 90th minute to League Two Stevenage.

Conceding inside 10 minutes, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan levelled midway through the second half before Danny Rose scored a last minute winner to send Boro through.

Making eight changes from the side that beat Cardiff City on Saturday, a youthful Reading team took a while to get going but had a spell in the second half where they loked in control.

Speakin g to the media after the game, the former England captain felt that his side were hard done by.

"It was disappointing to lose in the last couple of minutes," he started. "We were sloppy with the second goal, and you feel gutted for them because they put a shift in, they’re young kids learning their way. This was a tough game for them to get involved in, they go long and bully you. We were unsure at the start, which you would be, but once we got used to it, we looked okay. You never like to get knocked out of a Cup game or get beat but sometimes it’s about performances. I thought second half we stood up to them and played some good stuff, could easily have got a winner but it’s about experience.

"It should really have gone to penalties, we deserved it to go to penalties. We’re disappointed in there, but this is where we are as a club."

With another quick turnaround, the thread-bare squad travel to Rotherham United on saturday looking for back-to-back league wins.

Ovie Ejaira, Lucas Joao and Yakou meite are among those on the injury list, with some who featured tonight likely to make up the squad in Yorkshire.

"It shows is where this club is at at this moment in time," Ince explained. "I’m not prepared to risk my top players on a game like this because we’re so thin on the ground. We’re going to have to rely on some of these players, you saw our bench against Cardiff, so the positive is that some of these players got their first 90 minutes, Kelvin got his first goal which he’ll be buzzing, Mama [Camara] came on and did well. I don’t want to name any names because for all of these boys it is an experience to say, ‘this is a real mans game’."