The Nigerian international was left out of Saturday’s home game with Derby after arriving back late from international duty, but returned to the starting line-up on Tuesday evening.

It was a solid – if unspectacular – first-half from Royals, but the second-half capitulation ensured they left the south coast empty handed.

Reading have now failed to win in seven matches in all competitions and six in the league to drop to 17th in the Championship table.

And Akpan admits he can’t put his finger on Reading’s vulnerability after conceding, as Nigel Adkins’ side let in yet another three goals.

“It’s a real shame we’ve been beaten that badly after being in the game for so long,” he said. “Again we concede a goal and seem to lose our way, I don’t know why that is, we’ve got to have a long hard look at ourselves for the reason for that.

“It hurts when you play and don’t get the result you want. We’ve just got to keep our heads up, keep working hard and turn it around.

“The first goal is always important but it shouldn’t be the end of the game. If we concede we’ve got to find a way to dig in and stay in the game.

“We still had 40 minutes to get back into the game, I don’t know why it’s gone like that.

“We had a few chances first-half that we didn’t take, a few opportunities but that’s football, when you don’t take chances and concede like we did.”

Blackpool visit Madejski Stadium on Saturday (3pm ko), and the 23-year-old is eager to put things right against the team that are cut adrift at the bottom of the Championship.

He added: “The Championship, with the way it is, there is always another game to prove yourself and as I say we’ve got to go again and look for a positive result to turn things around.

“We’ll dust ourselves down and make sure we go again Saturday for a positive result.”