Mark Bowen felt Reading were the more likely to win the game in the closing stages but lamented a ‘number of errors’ in the defeat at Ewood Park.

Bowen made a double substitution with his side trailing 3-1 and saw them have an immediate impact as Jordan Obita and Sam Baldock linked up to reduce the arrears to 3-2 before Yakou Meite headed in a Baldock cross to turn the game on its head.

Those two goals came in the space of four second half minutes in what was an open and entertaining affair at Ewood between two sides in the comfort of mid-table.

But Sam Gallagher won it late on, as Rovers finished and started the game with a flourish, with Ben Brereton and Adam Armstrong having put them 2-0 up inside six minutes.

And Bowen conceded his side had more than a part to play in gifting the hosts victory.

"We started slowly and we didn't have the intensity right at the start,” the former Rovers assistant boss said.

"We conceded two goals that were avoidable with more communication. We had to change things and get back into it.

"For periods I thought we were on top and then we concede a sloppy goal.

"At 3-3, I thought if there was going to be any winner it'd be us - but then we don't deal with the danger and we don't clear our lines.

"There was a number of errors the fourth goal. We let an easy cross in the box and Sam Gallagher had a free header into the net.

"It is individuals making mistakes."

While the talk of Rovers not including some of their out of contract players in the squad was the talk that dominated the pre-match chat, Reading boss Bowen believes the futures of several of his squad being up in the air hasn’t helped his side.

"The mind of a professional player is a complicated thing,” he added.

"If they know they won’t be here next year, some players they might have made their mind up to change. I think in hindsight it has affected us.

"I'm very clear in my mind which way we need to go and which way we will go."