JAAP Stam claims Reading FC were ‘hard done by’ in their Carabao Cup third round defeat to Swansea City.

Royals pushed the Premier League Swans all the way but lacked a cutting edge in the final third.

Stam picked a side laden with attacking midfielders but without a recognised striker until Jon Dadi Bodvarsson came on for the last 16 minutes.

Roy Beerens, John Swift and Adrian Popa went close to giving Reading the lead before Alfie Mawson’s opener in the 52nd minute, the former Royals trainee volleying home from a Renato Sanches corner via a Chris Gunter deflection.

Reading’s fate was sealed seven minutes from time when a George Evans pass hit referee Andy Davies, allowing Swansea to break and substitute Jordan Ayew to score the winner which sent them into the fourth round.

And Stam believes the loss was harsh on his heavily-changed side.

"The result is not what we wanted, but sometimes you don't get what you want or what you deserve,” he argued.

"If you watch that game you could say we feel a little hard done by.

“You can see from the start of the game what our intentions were; to go forward, play our own game, get into their box and in front of their goal.

"We knew if we could play our game and do it well we would have a chance against them. We did very well in the first half and at the start of the second. We created chances and dominated large parts of the game.

"But it's all about the result, I understand that too.

“Swansea scored their goal from a set piece. That can never happen, you need to mark your man so he can't put that ball in the net.

"We pushed for the equaliser, but Swansea dropped another defender in there and sat even more in front of goal, making spaces very narrow."

Reading Chronicle:

George Evans battles with Swansea's Roque Mesa.

Reading were pressing for an equaliser when an Evans pass through midfield struck Davies on the legs.

Swansea picked up the scraps and Ayew sped away before firing confidently past Anssi Jaakkola for the all-important second goal.

Stam groaned: "We wanted to pass it into one of our midfield players, the referee was in there, he touched it, they broke and scored that second goal.

"We need to accept it because we can't do anything about it. It happened. But just as we take our positions on the pitch, the referee needs to take his position on the pitch as well so he doesn't interfere.

"He did, and unfortunately for us he touched the ball to allow them to come out on the break and score - a goal which you could see was a big relief to them.

"After that, the game's not done, but it’s very difficult to come back.

“But, overall, on the ball I think we did very well. And we'll definitely take a lot of positives from the game."

Swans boss Paul Clement admitted Royals caused his side plenty of problems on the night.

“The goal came at a good moment and we are very pleased to go through, it was a difficult game,” he said.

“Reading are a very good side who were very unlucky not to come into the Premier League.

"Their movement is good and we had some difficulties with them, we knew we were in a game but the first goal changed the rhythm of the game and we knew we could make ourselves nice and compact and wait for the right opportunity.”