Derby boss Nigel Clough admitted his side "fell flat" after seeing them edged out 1-0 by Reading for their first league defeat at Pride Park since late November.
Noel Hunt's second-half header from Jimmy Kebe's cross was enough to secure an eighth win in 10 games for Reading, while Derby never looked like responding.
Clough said: "We didn't get going all night which has puzzled us somewhat because we played well on Saturday and have been good in training in the last two days and looked sharp, but we absolutely fell flat in this game.
"We can't put our finger on it at the moment. We started with three in midfield and they couldn't get on the ball, we went to 4-4-2 after 20 minutes and couldn't get hold of the ball up there either.
"We were playing against a very good side, but we didn't cause them enough problems and that's been as poor as we've been for some time."
Comment 1 - 5 of 5
Clough's got a difficult task trying to get football back to its roots and away from ballroom dancing.
Dull, drab, dire, unable to fashion ANY SORT OF SCORING OPPORTUNITY - is this the best you can turn up Clough! Yet another mediocre, bottom half of the table season beckons. I fear whilst ever Clough and Glick in charge this will be Derby's future.
From rober8on, on Tue 14 Feb 10:08PM
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One thing Clough has done is cleared out most of the big earners and kept Derby in this league. Swap places wingers. (Forest Fan)
Maybe because Reading are too good for you!
always an excuse 'our Nigel',he's been there 3 seasons and simply is'nt good enough !
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