Jay Spearing 'holds his hand up' and apologises for mistake in Blackpool's FA Cup defeat to Reading

The skipper failed to get the required contact on his attempted near-post clearance, which allowed Lucas Boye the opportunity to prod home Reading's opener between the legs of goalkeeper Mark Howard.

It gave the Royals the lead on the stroke of half-time after a fairly even first half, where the Seasiders had earlier squandered chances to go ahead.

Simon Grayson's men were again guilty of missing opportunities in the second half before Jordan Obita wrapped up the victory for Reading eight minutes from time.

The defeat, which sees Reading progress into the fourth round where they will face either Cardiff City or Carlisle United, was Blackpool's seventh game without a win.

“First and foremost I will hold my hands up and admit that first goal is a mistake I’ve made and I’ve apologised to the lads," Spearing said post-match.

“It wasn’t my intention, I just tried to clear it and mistimed the clearance.

“The chances before that, I think we should have taken one or two. Before that I don’t think Mark Howard has had anything to do.

“It comes down to what we’ve been talking about over the last couple of weeks in that we aren’t being clinical enough in the final third.

“We’re also conceding silly goals, just like Reading’s first goal. After that we’re giving ourselves too much to do and that needs to stop.

“We’re a good set of lads, we put our graft in, we work hard and we try our best but at the minute we’re in a little bit of a tough patch.

“But we’re grown men, we’re going to fight and we’re going to get ourselves out of it starting on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a difficult game away at Lincoln but we have to go and perform and pick up the points.”

Pool were facing a weakened Reading side that included several youngsters and fringe first-team players, as Royals boss Mark Bowen made 11 changes to his side to the one that drew 1-1 at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The Seasiders must now turn their attention back to their league campaign, where they have faltered in recent weeks.

“I felt the game was all about a quick tempo and the ball was to and fro at the start," Spearing added.

“We tried to implement a way of getting them to turn early doors with the inexperience of their back four.

“But they’ve come here, they’ve battled hard and they’ve done well. They go into the next round and we’re not.

“We can’t do anything about it now but we have to look at ourselves and kick on because we’ve got important league games coming up.

“We need to put all our focus into that and that starts on Saturday.

“We are a good set of lads and we are trying our hardest and we’re going to stick together.

“We’re a group that want to do well this season. We’re having a little sticky patch but we have to move on.”