Reading boss Noel Hunt felt his side were 'second best' in Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Stockport County.

Trailing by two goals inside 15 minutes through set pieces, Sam Smith pulled one back for the Royals on the hour-mark before Jack Diamond finished the scoring shortly after.

Only a third home defeat of the season, it saw Dave Challinor's men leapfrog the Royals into the play-off places.

Speaking after the game, Hunt said: "We made it tough for ourselves. We didn’t start the game right, and we didn’t earn the right to play. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb with two set play goals, which we’re disappointed about as a collective. It was a bit out of character for us because we’ve been good in the last six or seven weeks with set plays.

"After that, we came in at half-time and started the second half better. We got a goal to get back into it and then the basics of the game: Be brave enough to play forward, we played it back. We don’t win a tackle, and we don’t recover or react, which costs us the game.

"We’re bitterly disappointed as a team on the whole. It can’t happen again, and we will do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t, especially at home. We have to start the game right and get a foothold."

Reading struggled with illness throughout the week, but the former Royals striker insisted it cannot be used as an excuse.

"You never play 100 per cent fit, you get very few games where you don’t have any knocks or niggles. It is part and parcel of football- I’m not going to use any excuses. We were second best for the first half, gifting them a couple of goals.

"If you take the goals away there was nothing in the game. When you do that to a team like Stockport, who are well drilled, they’re hard to break down. That’s when we have to be brave to take the ball and step into spaces and find pockets to get on the ball. We had spells in the second half but not nearly as much as we wanted to. We have to learn from this and come back fighting next week."

In more positive news, Michael Craig, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan and Chem Campbell returned from injury lay-offs.

"Chem [Campbell] did really well to last as long as he did- we don’t want to push him as he’s not done a lot in the last two weeks with his ankle," Hunt said. "It was pleasing to see him start and impact the game, I thought he was one of our better performers.

"Kelvin E coming back, and Jeriel, it is important for them to get up to speed as fast as they can to help the group along. We’ve got these boys back on the grass, but we have to do a lot in terms of match-fitness and levels."