Shaun Goater slammed as "amateurish" the part he played in Reading dropping further behind in the First Division promotion race on Saturday.

With the Royals leading Bradford City 1-0 in the First Division clash, the 33-year-old striker lost possession on the edge of his own area and the Bantams' Paul Evans did the rest, curling a shot into the top corner.

"We played well but I gave them an opportunity two minutes before half-time when they had looked dead and buried," Goater said. "It was amateurish. I decided to go back towards my goal instead of heading wide or knocking the ball down the channel - but hindsight's a great thing.

"He (Evans) was still a good distance from goal but he hit it well and I'm just disappointed because I made the wrong decision and should have done the safe thing."

Reading had opened the scoring when Goater set up Steve Sidwell after just five minutes, but the equaliser changed the complexion of the game.

Andy Gray put Bradford ahead on 55 minutes and Reading had Andy Hughes' 78th minute strike to thank for rescuing a point.

Reading have garnered just four points from their last six games and have slipped alarmingly since the departure of manager Alan Pardew to West Ham.

"We played well at Norwich and wanted to bring that here. We've got a succession of home games now and we wanted three points to start a run," said Goater, who praised his team-mates' resilience in finding an equaliser.

"After we went behind we showed our character, dug in and rolled up our sleeves and ground out the second goal.

"It then looked like a third was on the cards, but it was not to be. I had one cleared off the line, so did Adie (Williams) and it was a good spell for us so it was disappointing we couldn't force it in."

Meanwhile, Steve Coppell has reportedly been given the weekend to decide if he wants the Reading job. It was reported on Saturday that the Brighton manager had said "yes" to Royals and the clubs had agreed a compensation package. But there was no official confirmation from either club over the weekend.

Royals director of football Nicky Hammond and chief scout and reserve-team boss Brian McDermott were in charge of the game with Bradford. Hammond told the Reading Evening Post: "The process (of naming a manager) is ongoing, but I'm not prepared to talk about individuals. It is now with the chief executive (Nigel Howe) to move that process forward."