JAAP Stam admitted Reading FC couldn't cope with Brentford's aggression and superior quality on the ball in last night's humbling 4-1 defeat at Griffin Park.

The Bees shattered Royals' six-match unbeaten run in the league and eight in all competitions with a high-octane display.

While Yann Kermorgant netted a penalty and George Evans and Callum Harriott both hit the woodwork for the visitors, Brentford were worthy winners thanks to goals from Josh Clarke, Lasse Vibe, Maxime Colin and Scott Hogan.

The victory maintained Brentford's unbeaten home record this season as Dean Smith's side claimed fourth place in the table from the Royals, who slip down to eighth.

It is now 43 years since Reading kept a clean sheet at Griffin Park and Stam refused to dress up his team's lacklustre display in front of 1,660 travelling fans.

"It wasn’t a good performance, Brentford deserved the win,” admitted the Dutchman.

“They were better on the ball, more aggressive than we were – and if you’re not both of those things then you are going to have a very difficult evening.

"The aggressiveness and the focus wasn’t there. Sometimes it can happen.”

Evans was denied by the woodwork in the 39th minute before Clarke put Bees in front two minutes later.

Vibe added a second a minute before the break and Colin scored a third and his first for Brentford on 58 minutes.

After Harriott's shot hit the post on the hour mark, Kermorgant's 64th minute penalty reduced the deficit.

But Hogan netted Bees' fourth four minutes before the end as they bounced back from a 3-1 loss at Wolves on Saturday in style.

Once again, Reading had the ball for the vast majority of the match with 63% possession, but Stam accused his players of making too many wrong decisions.

“We had time on the ball to play our game, but we didn’t do it well,” he explained. “We chose to play the long ball to the strikers too early and we were not making easy passes.

"They had quality players up front and in midfield and we knew they were going to play the ball into their strikers and use their pace.

“And yes, we hit the post just before they scored, but before we had that chance they had made it difficult for us in our box a couple of times.”

He added: "After 3-0, we started to get on the ball and remain calm in possession. We created chances, but if you do that when you are two or three goals down, it’s a bit late isn’t it?

"You have to start these games well, winning the first ball and the second balls. We didn’t’ do that as we have in previous games.”

The result equalled Reading's heaviest loss this season – a 4-1 reverse at Newcastle United in August.

Stam argued: "Everybody knows what it takes in this league and what you have to bring to games to win them.

“You can't relax and think we’re going to do this on 80%. If we want to win a game, we need to give the full 100% and we need to be focused.

"You can’t win every game you play. It’s not possible in this league. Everybody can beat everybody in the Championship. We want to be very consistent in what we do and we have been for a good long time now.”

He continued: “Sometimes it’s important to lose, although it’s difficult for any manager to say that.

"From games like this, maybe we can learn a lot. It’s not like we have to go back to square one all of a sudden, but from every game you want to learn.

"We had a good run going and we wanted to keep that up, so it’s a shame that unfortunately it didn’t’ happen for us. It wasn’t good enough from us. They won it, and they deserved it."

This Saturday Reading host Derby County – who won 2-0 at Cardiff last night - in the last match before a fortnight's international break.

Stam stated: “We played against a very good Brentford side – but we now have to look to the game on Saturday at home to Derby."