JOEY van den Berg insists he has learned from his mistake after an unfortunate error saw Reading FC squander two points against Championship rivals Fulham last Saturday.

Royals were cruising towards victory when a short ball from van den Berg and a mistimed challenge from Chris Gunter saw former loanee Lucas Piazon race clear.

The Brazilian forward showed his composure by neatly slotting the ball past Royals’ Vito Mannone and the Cottagers held on to a point, despite losing defender Tomas Kalas after less than 40 seconds into the match.

And Dutchman van den Berg revealed Reading boss Jaap Stam was furious with his error.

“It’s one of those things that can happen,” asserted van den Berg.

“It’s unfortunate that it was a short ball.

“It happens and you feel terrible about it but you can’t dwell on it for too long.

“You have to move forward and we did that as a team against Aston Villa.

“The manager wasn’t happy but it’s part of football.

“You make mistakes and you have to learn from it. I know I’ve learned from it.”

Reading put their mistakes behind them by seeing off Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa on Tuesday night.

In truth, Royals dominated the match throughout and despite giving away a late goal, looked destined to bag three points.

The Villains have invested millions of pounds into the squad since their relegation from the top-flight in 2016, but van den Berg insists money cannot buy a team success.

“Money isn’t everything,” he continued.

“If you have a good game plan like us then you can beat the money.”

Now Reading turn their attention to Deepdale where they face Preston North End on Saturday afternoon.

Royals crumbled to a 3-0 defeat in last season’s fixture, but van den Berg refused to look at the past.

“That was last season,” asserted the 31-year-old.

“We can’t look at that now. This is a new season.

“We know it’s going to be a difficult game of course but we will go there with confidence.”