READING FC defender Liam Moore insisted Tiago Ilori was not to blame for his side's lacklustre defending in the 3-3 draw against Derby County.

Former Liverpool defender Ilori, who turns 25 today, was partly to blame for all three Rams goals in a thrilling encounter at Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

The pacey centre-back was punished early on when his delicate flick fell straight into the path of Andreas Weimann before the ball eventually found its way to Kasey Palmer, who put Derby ahead.

He then gave away a free-kick for County's second goal scored by Richard Keogh before being turned inside out by Tom Lawrence for the visitors' third.

But former Leicester City defender Moore insisted: "There's no point in trying to sugar-coat it.

"I'm a defender, I look around me and I see good talent and good ability.

"But I also see that maybe we're underachieving at the back by conceding too many goals.

"We have to be harsh on each other."

The 24-year-old continued: "I've built a good partnership with everyone I have played with here.

"Tiago and I are the same age and we get on well off of the pitch.

"We have a decent understanding, we play a bit higher up the pitch because we both have decent recovery pace.

"When he plays I'm more comfortable going a bit tighter on my striker because I feel like he'll mop up any ball in behind with his unbelievable speed.

"It hurts us, we're conceding too many goals and when you concede goals the fingers are always pointed at your defenders, your centre-backs and your goalkeeper especially.

"We'll look in the mirror and try and tighten things up."

Bracknell News:

Reading defender, Tiago Ilori.

Reading missed out on all three points against Gary Rowett's Derby when former loan defender Chris Baird was dismissed for a lunge at Modou Barrow in the 85th minute, sparking a touchline melee.

Jaap Stam's men had made it 3-3 a few minutes earlier thanks to Jon Dadi Bodvarsson's equalier.

Reading recovered from Palmer's opener by going 2-1 up through Liam Kelly and Barrow.

But goals from Keogh and Lawrence nudged the Rams 3-2 up until Bodvarsson levelled late on.

Royals have won just once in 13 league games, and Moore stressed: "We're in a points and results business, but there's been a lot of promise from the last two games.

"The spirit and the togetherness has been very good and we kept going (against Derby). We could have been disappointed going behind twice but we kept pushing and in the end it was a point we'll have to take.

"It's very frustrating when it's our undoing.

"We've conceded two or three goals a game and that's something we are going to have to improve. We need to turn these draws into wins.

"We're probably going to have to score a few more goals on top of that but we need to help the lads upfront by keeping more clean sheets and stopping conceding such silly goals like we have been."

Reading welcome Sheffield United to Madejski Stadium on Tuesday night (8pm KO).

Royals will be looking for revenge after suffering a 2-1 defeat at Bramall Lane earlier in the season.

"I would like to hope we're close to turning a corner," concluded Moore.

"The full 90 minutes against Derby was more of a 6.5 or seven out of 10 compared to the fours and fives we've been putting in recently.

"You have to look at it positively but the only thing that will prove that it's a corner turned is results.

"If we can follow it up with a win against Sheffield United then it will be a decent point.

"They've had a fantastic season. You see sometimes that teams come up and go again.

"They've done that so far, we had a difficult game at their place and we know it's going to be tough.

"But we know if we can take the positives from our last two performances and cut out the silly goals then we have a very good chance."