Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson labelled two of Reading's goals 'absolutely pathetic' after his side lost 5-1 at the SCL Stadium last night.

The Cumbrians now sit only one place above the Royals inside the relegation zone, with Reading now off the foot of the table.

In a crazy spell on the half-hour mark, Reading lead 3-1 heading into the break.

Riding a bit of pressure, Femi Azeez and Lewis Wing added late strikes to finish the game emphatically.

Speaking after the game, Simpson said: "We’ve missed tackles and we haven’t cleared our lines. I actually thought we started the game well but it was a really poor goal to give away to start with. We then showed the right sort of desire to get ourselves back in it with a really good equaliser. It was a good diagonal, a great ball in from Robbo and a great run from Luke Plange.

“The two goals we conceded after that are just absolutely pathetic and we got found out. For the fourth goal I thought it was a great finish and the fifth one is a simple run down the middle of the pitch which we didn’t track. It’s lots and lots of little things.

“We showed them the clips of what Reading are all about and we told them that they were a little bit vulnerable from crosses and set pieces. We got a corner in the first minute but took it short and didn’t put it into the box, then we got another one just after it and we tried a nutmeg on the edge of the box instead of putting it in. There were so many basic, simple mistakes. It was a really tough night for us.”

It was the first time the Cumbrians had conceded five in League One for almost a decade, while it was Reading's first 5-1 win at home since 2015.