Reading FC striker Lucas João admitted he was left with a bittersweet feeling after scoring on his Royals debut but part of the side that lost 2-1 to Hull.

The former Sheffield Wednesday man struck midway through the second half to halve the Royals' deficit, after Jarrod Bowen and Jackson Irvine both struck in the first 15 minutes for the Tigers to put Reading on the back foot.

João had also hit the post in the first half as Reading searched for a way back into the game, while fellow debutant, George Puscas, struck the crossbar from close range as Reading searched for an equaliser.

"It wasn't the debut that I wanted, and it wasn't the result that the team wanted," João admitted after the game.

"It's hard to come here and lose the game, but now we need to think forward.

"We've got a game next Tuesday, we need to change things quickly and we need to find the way to win.

"We don't want to lose, the time doesn't stop and we know we were 2-0 down - we came here to win.

"We tried to come back into the game, we tried everything and we improved for the second half - we played much better.

"We had our chances and we couldn't finish, but now we need to think the next game will be better and we need to find a way to win the game."

Despite notching his first goal in blue and white hoops, João focussed on the task at hand of getting points on the board rather than his own success.

He added: "I'm happy to score a goal but I'd rather have the victory than the goal.

"I hope I can keep helping the team with my quality, let's see in the next game if we can find a way to win.

"We've got a few new players like me, and now is the time we need to get together and work for the same way.

"Because we've got new players, we need to make them feel like they are at home so they can adapt and show their quality.

"We're going to improve, keep working hard and the results will come."