JOSE Gomes accepted Reading FC were punished for their below-par finishing by Bolton Wanderers.

Loan striker Nelson Oliveira’s 74th minute penalty looked to have secured a first away win for Royals since a 3-2 victory at Preston on September 15.

But Reading’s celebrations were cruelly cut short by a Jack Hobbs’ 94th minute equaliser for Phil Parkinson’s Trotters.

Former Royals skipper Parkinson argued his side were good value for the draw in last night’s Championship relegation six-pointer.

However, Gomes suggested Royals should have wrapped up victory much earlier to avoid a nervy finish after seeing John Swift, Sone Aluko, Leandro Bacuna and Oliveira all miss decent chances.

Gomes, who has collected five points from six league games in charge, stated: “We had 16 shots and 65 per cent possession, but if you don’t score it means nothing.

“It is not just about possession and controlling the game, you also have to score. We had five or six close situations where we nearly scored. If we score one of those we win 2-1, even if the other team score after 90 minutes.”

He added: “We haven’t won away since September and we were very near. We were winning after 90 minutes, but we should have killed the game before that.

“With the situations we created we should have scored more, and it is because we didn’t we are suffering now.

“We showed did good things again and in some moments the players were thinking more about the points than how they were playing which is easy to understand in our situation.

“But we played with enough quality and offensively we created enough situations to win the game.

“We are disappointed with the result, but we are full of confidence in these players.

“The players are disappointed, of course, like all of us and all the supporters. You have the taste of three points in your mouth and in the last moment it goes away. That is the normal feeling when this happens.”

Reading remain 22nd in the Championship table and one place above Bolton with one more point.

Gomes men are now only one points behind Rotherham United, the team immediately above.

Parkinson stated: “It was an important point for us, especially going a goal down.

“It was important that we didn’t lose. That Reading team is an expensively assembled squad - they have spent millions putting that team together the past few years since the play-off final two years ago.

“There are reasons they’re in the bottom three, but we more than matched them. If we hadn’t got a point, it would have been a travesty.”