Derby County manager Paul Warne felt his side were 'outfought' as Reading prevented the Rams from going top of League One.

Previously unbeaten on the road over the past three months, Paul Mukairu's second-half goal was enough for the victory in a scrappy but dominant performance from the hosts in which Derby did not even register a shot on target.

Warne- a promotion specialist with Rotherham United- was full of praise for Ruben Selles men but was left disappointed with his own team's performance.

"We didn’t win enough second balls and when you can’t play the way you want to, sometimes you have to roll your sleeves up. We didn’t really match their intensity. They are the second-best in the league at pressing and anything in the middle of the pitch, they came after us.

“Any more than two touches and it’s a problem. When we got to the final third, we never had any end product. But I didn’t think there was much in the game and a draw might have been a fair result. They just had a bit more energy than we had.”

"I thought we got outfought and outrun. Sometimes football just comes down to the simple basics. I didn’t think there was much tactical nuance to the game."

Reading now host in-form Leyton Orient on Saturday, looking to make up more ground in their survival bid.