Reading boss Ruben Selles labelled Wednesday night's 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City 'difficult' but insists his team will continue to 'move forward.'

Falling behind within five minutes, the Royals battled back and were level not long afterwards through Femi Azeez. 

A closely-fought contest throughout, the Bluebirds retook the lead with 10 minutes remaining as Callum Robinson grabbed his brace with a back-post tap-in.

Unable to bounce back again, it marked just the second defeat of pre-season after a narrow loss to Millwall last month.

Speaking after the contest, Selles told the Reading Chronicle that he felt it was not the best showing his side had put in so far.

"It was a difficult game," said the Spaniard. "One of the reasons we picked this game was to play in a midweek in an away stadium against a tough opponent to change the rhythm and a different preparation. We had players playing 45 minutes today to continue with preparation. We didn’t start well, we conceded early, and that mistake shouldn’t have happened.

"The team came back, we pressed in an appropriate way and scored. It was not our best first half, but we were competitive. The second half we started much better, had chances to score and make it 2-1 but we didn’t and in an action where we were not in time to the pressure and adjusting our defensive moment we lost it. Now, our task is to know when you concede a goal, how to come back into the game and try to keep a positive mindset.

"When you play against this kind of opposition it is a little bit different to what we might find in League One, but we need to be able to solve problems. When you change players sometimes you make mistakes, and it is another learning point for us. I think pre-season has been very positive and the defeats are part of the game. It’s good learning and we will move forward from today."

Reading have just one remaining friendly, Hull City on Saturday, before League One returns on August 10 at Birmingham City.