Royals crashed to a 3-0 defeat at DW Stadium on Good Friday as goals from Jordi Gomez, Martyn Waghorn and Callum McManaman all but secured a top-six finish for the Latics.

But Reading’s chances of joining them in the play-offs are far from assured with three fixtures remaining starting with tomorrow night’s home clash against Middlesbrough at Madejski Stadium (Tuesday, 8pm ko).

Adkins lamented: “This was a game to come and win. Wigan were excellent on the day, we were shocking on the day.

“I’ve got to digest why that was the case. In terms of one-on-one duels, we were set up similarly to them - so it should have been man for man all over the pitch.

“But we never got anywhere near winning our one-on-one duels. We didn’t put a tackle in, we didn’t make an interception, and when we got the ball we gave it away cheaply.

“They had a lot of quality on the football, a lot of movement, and let’s make it perfectly clear, Wigan were very, very good.

“But we’ve got to look at ourselves and we were nowhere near the level we have to be if we have serious aspirations to get ourselves promoted.”

Adkins was also furious with his side’s defending for all three goals and admitted: “I’ve just looked back at the three goals and if you don’t stay with your runner, you’re giving them a situation from which they can score a goal. I need to establish why that happened.

“Young Michael Hector in the middle of the park might have given a few passes away, but he showed a desire to get on the ball and a willingness to keep running.

“And Jordan Obita playing against a very talented winger did very well. But collectively, it wasn’t good enough.

“We’re still in there fighting and we’ve got to go again. The play-offs are within our grasp, but we need to better if we seriously want to get ourselves promoted to the Premier League this season.

“Whichever players wear the Reading shirt have got to have a passion, a hunger and a desire to do well for the cause, and the grit to hang in there when things aren’t quite going our way.”

Adkins, though, tried to put the defeat at DW Stadium into some sort of context by lauding opponents Wigan.

“I thought they were the best team we have played against this season,” he declared. “They gave us more problems than any other team this season. They were excellent all round.

“All being well we’ll meet them again in the play-off final. But we’ll have to be a hell of a lot better than we were.”

Reading now face an uphill battle in their final three matches to finish in the top six.

They host Middlesbrough at Madejski Stadium tomorrow followed by a trip to relegation-threatened Doncaster Rovers this Saturday (3pm ko).

Adkins’ men then host second-placed Burnley a week later on the final day of the season.

READING FC have won the inaugural Under 21 Premier League Cup after coming from behind to beat Manchester City.

Royals trailed City 3-2 after the first leg but stormed back to win the second leg 2-0 in front of a 3,000-strong crowd at Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

City still had their noses in front at the interval but second-half goals from Tariqe Fosu and Jack Stacey secured a 4-3 aggregate victory and the cup for Martin Kuhl’s young Royals.

Reading: Lincoln, Long (Fosu 68), Griffin, Keown, Cooper, Sweeney (c), Tshibola, Stacey, Kelly, Tanner, Ugwu. Subs not used: Ward, Murombedzi, Fridjonsson, Cardwell.

Manchester City: Lawlor, Drury (Tasende 75), Facey, Denayer, Leigh (Bytyqi 75), Glendon, Fofana, Ntcham, Lopes (C), Cole, Hiwula. Subs not used: O’Brien, Plummer, Bryan.

Referee: Kevin Friend.