Dubious offside calls, red cards and handball proved costly as an improved Reading fell to a 2-1 defeat at high-flying Derby County at Pride Park.

Take a look at the ratings below.

Joel Pereira, 6: Solid league debut from the Portuguese stopper. Distribution needs work but was very confident in commanding his box and pulled off some important saves. Harsh penalty to concede following Dwight Gayle's handball.

Andy Yiadom, 6: Struggled to impact the first half with his usual attacking vigour with the Royals penned back for most of the early exchanges. Two soft yellow cards, one undeniable dive from former teammate Conor Hourihane, will now see the skipper miss two League One fixtures.

Amadou Mbengue, 6: A composed performance from the defender, who had a lot of work to do in the first period. Made one crunching tackle in the second half which even garnered some applause from home support.

Tyler Bindon, 6: Epitome of composed, looking a cut above out on the pitch despite still being a teenager. The Rams felt the New Zealand international should have been sent off early doors for taking down Gayle- would have been harsh.

Clinton Mola, 6: Needing to put in a good showing after his previous match unfortunately ended with conceding a crucial penalty, the full-back showed no signs of carry-over and defended well throughout the evening.

Charlie Savage, 6: Did what he needed to do, running hard and putting himself about in the midfield. Unable to display his passing ability in a hectic battle for territory.

Lewis Wing, 6: Not to his usual standards but still kept plugging away in the midfield and looked to get the ball down and forward when in possession.

Harvey Knibbs, 5: Very quiet evening at the office for the top scorer, who only had three touches in the entire first half. Saw a semi-decent chance bounce over the bar which would have snatched a point at the death.

Femi Azeez, 5: One of those nights for the winger, with Eiran Cashin firmly in control of their battle on the right-hand side. 

Sam Smith, 6: Took his goal very well but cut an isolated figure for lots of the evening with the striker seeing little of the ball.

Ben Elliott, 6: Buzzed around and showed some neat play. Just needs to keep picking up minutes to stay fresh. Not sure out wide is his best position.

 

Substitutes

Jeriel Dorsett, 6: Good to get 30 minutes back in the tank after a month out injured.

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, 6: Won headers and made a nuisance of himself in the box, but little clear-cut came his way.

Jayden Wareham, n/a

Kelvin Abrefa, n/a

Paul Mukairu, n/a