Jose Gomes still confident that long unbeaten run is imminent, despite defeat to Blackburn

The Royals suffered a poor start to the game when Adam Armstrong opened the scoring with a wonderful goal into the top corner.

Reading also had a shocking start to the second half when Bradley Dack's deflected effort wrong-footed Rafael Cabral and trickled home.

Gomes' troops fought back and John Swift's neat finish gave them up but for all their efforts, the hosts couldn't get the equaliser they craved.

Gomes said: "I am completely sure that at the end of the season, the table will be completely different.

"We will be there at the top of the table so we need to give confidence to our players and help them to grow and to show them how to be stronger and to perform better and to give them the confidence they need."

The Portuguese admitted he was furious with his team's first half performance and let them know in no uncertain terms that their display was littered with errors.

He added: "At half-time, I was completely angry with them, really upset because we made tactical mistakes that we shouldn't.

"I spoke with them and I explained things. We came out in the second half with different energy and then the worst thing happened. We conceded a second goal but we didn't give up.

"We went on playing and tried to find the Blackburn goal. We had a lot of shots and we were much more dangerous in their box but we only got one goal.

"The big lesson is 45 minutes isn't enough to win the game and the first half we gave to Blackburn."

Gomes added: "Right now, I don't any team that can celebrate the title.

"We have played eight games, nobody wins and nobody loses.

"We need to be patient and help the players can recover from this down moment.

"I felt that if we won this game we can have a long period of victories. I work with the players and see their spirit and they are a fantastic group.

"We need a good result and everything will change."