READING FC boss Jaap Stam revealed his disappointment after a defensive mix-up allowd 10-man Fulham to snatch a late point at Madejski Stadium this afternoon.

Royals looked certain to bag all three points after Cottagers’ Tomas Kalas was dismissed with less than a minute played following a clumsy challenge on Modou Barrow.

Following some intense Royals’ pressure Liam Kelly put the home side in the lead shortly after an hour on the clock.

But a lacklustre pass from Dutchman van den Berg allowed former Royal Lucas Piazon to intercept the ball and charge one-on-one towards Vito Mannone.

And the Brazilian made no mistake from inside the box, calmly slotting the ball past stopper Mannone.

Dutchman Stam said he was pleased with his team’s overall performance but slammed his players for gifting Fulham the equaliser.

“We knew we had to be careful because of the quality that Fulham have,” asserted Stam.

“They are a good team and they have good players.

“We gave a goal away because the pass and the first touch was not good enough. They intercepted the ball and with the quality they have if you give away a one-on-one then they can finish it.

“The players need to learn from these kind of mistakes.

“It was very disappointing.

“I have no complaints about the way we played or about the intensity that the players bought to the game.

“But of course it’s very frustrating that we didn’t get all three points.”

Royals controlled the game throughout and in truth will be disappointed not to have bagged all three points.

Stam continued: “It’s a game that we controlled from the start, it helps they had a man sent off.

“We wanted to be aggressive going forward and that’s how Modou Barrow ended up getting tripped.

“We created chances and we could have had a couple of shots from inside the box in the first-half but we waited too long and they were able to close us down.

“But when you are playing against teams that are set up like that you need to be patient and wait for the right moment.

“We got the goal that we wanted.”

Reading now turn their attention to their third home match in a row when they welcome Aston Villa on Tuesday night.