Crawley Town boss Rob Elliott spoke of a 'sticky pitch' in Saturday's draw, which lead to a 'scrappy' 1-1 draw at the Broadfield Stadium.
Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan opened the scoring in the first half and the Royals looked set to keep chase with the play-offs sides but Pantuche Camara tapped home a scruffy 89th-minute equaliser to earn a share of the spoils.
It could have been better for the hosts as the Red Devils had the ball in the net shortly afterwards, only for referee Craig Breakspear to blow up for full time as the ball was mid-flight towards the box.
Speaking after the match, Elliott admitted that the pitch did not allow the match to be played in the manner that both teams would have wanted.
"It was a scrappy game. For two teams who pride themselves on playing football, it was tough because we countered each other out and it became a battle on the transitions. I thought we handled it well most of the time with few chances in both boxes, which reflected the game.
"It was a disappointing goal to give away but great attitude and mentality to get the goal back and even the goal to win it. You can’t keep talking about it but at the end there, the has to be seen through in the final third. With the opportunity at the end, it could have been even better. "
Reading, who have had issues of their own with the pitch at the SCL Stadium, struggled to get their free-flowing game going in Sussex.
Nor did Crawley, said Elliott.
"The pitch, which is well-documented, was poor so we weren’t able to play. It was dry because of the heat. Ben does an amazing job, the groundsman, but it’s getting to the stage of the season where it deteriorates. The work they’ve done to keep it as it is is brilliant but once it gets dry and sticky it’s tough to play, for both teams."
