Mick McCarthy has described Ipswich Town's thrashing at the hands of Reading in the Championship as a "sobering defeat" for his side.
The Tractor Boys were beaten 5-1 at the Madejski Stadium in their first match since the international break, with Orlando Sa scoring a hat-trick for the hosts.
"We contrived to give five goals away. They played well, but I thought we had plenty of chances in the game too," BBC Sport quotes the manager as saying.
"Brett Pitman had a couple of chances to score in the second half and they punished us within minutes. It hurts me a lot to see us give five goals away.
"That's the worst it's been since the dark days of when I took over almost three years ago. I will have to look at my own part that we played in being too open to let them score that many. It was a real sobering defeat, that one."
The result is Ipswich's second defeat in succession following a 3-2 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion last month.
Sian Cowper
