JAAP Stam criticised his Reading FC players for taking 'too much risk' in a 3-2 defeat at Derby County – but insisted they deserved more for their efforts.

Royals slipped to a second successive Championship defeat and have dropped to fifth place in the table.

Their lead over the seventh-placed Rams was also cut to three points following Saturday's reverse at Pride Park, though they do have one game in hand.

It had started so well for Reading whose early dominance saw them take the lead from John Swift's fifth goal of the season from a Liam Kelly assist.

But Darren Bent levelled with Derby's only effort in the first half then Tom Ince notched his ninth goal in 13 games to give the hosts a 63rd minute lead.

It got even better for Steve McClaren's side when Will Hughes added a third 11 minutes later and although Yakou Meite scored his first Reading goal with 10 minutes remaining, the Rams held on for the win.

Stam, though, felt the defeat was harsh on Reading: “We deserved more,” he argued. "We played very well in the first half an hour and Derby were having a lot of difficulties.

"We deserved the first goal, a very good goal. They got the equaliser before half-time - although it was maybe a handball - and after that they tried to press us higher up the pitch.

“But we stopped playing a bit, so we spoke about it at half-time and the second half we dominated again.

“However, in the way we want to play, we ask the players to take risks. Maybe we took a little too much risk or maybe the ball we played out from the back wasn't good enough. If we lose possession there it's painful.

"That's what happened and, if you look at their first two goals, we gave them away too easily. The opposition didn't have to do anything to score those two goals and they got three points too easily off the back of them.

"The second goal is not because they did something well, it's because we didn't do something well - we took too much risk in the build up.

"As we look for the equaliser, spaces are opening up and they are dangerous on the break, they counter attack and it bounces to someone's feet in the box and they finish it off."

Stam's men enjoyed 65% of the possession on the day and Royals boss could not fault his players' effort.

"The spirit of the team we have is very good,” said Stam, who handed a debut to recent Liverpool signing Tiago Ilori in defence. “Even at 3-1 down, we still want to go for those two goals and get at least a point.

"We kept pushing, kept going forward. It's not easy to create chances because they defended with every man in front of their own box. But still we got the second one and we nearly got the third.

"We deserved more, but in football you sometimes don't get what you deserve.”

Meanwhile, McClaren admitted Derby were completely over-run for the majority of the first half.

"I couldn't stand watching that upstairs,” he confessed. “We were allowing them to play and the only way I could do anything about it was to run up and down the line like a crazy man.

"The players responded and all credit to them for turning it around. They decided to join in the fight and we made it a bit feisty and lit a fire which we had to do.

"It was a big win, there was a lot of pressure on the team to deliver and find a way to win and the response was great from going a goal down."

Reading will now play their game in hand on Tuesday night when they host Fulham in a rearranged fixture after the original match was abandoned due to fog last month (8pm ko).

Stam added: “A lot of people will start talking about the couple of games we lost, but that's football.

“We won a lot of games in the first half of the season and sometimes you lose a couple as well.

"We didn't succeed at Derby, we didn't get what we deserved. But we look to Tuesday with the confidence that we played well.

“We're mentally strong and now we need to show that mentality to start winning games again."