On Tuesday night Doncaster boss Paul Dickov said that sometimes you have to just accept you have been beaten by a better side. Adkins didn't go that far but he had words of praise for the Clarets.
"Burnley were bang at it," he said. "They're top of the league and they are there for a reason. I thought their front two were exceptional. Vokes and Ings were a real handful in what was a very, very hard working Burnley outfit who are full of confidence and on an excellent run at this moment in time.
"For us, I wanted to pass the ball better than we did today. Some of that was down to Burnley and their pressure, in fairness.
"I thought if we could find some extra spaces in there and move the ball brightly, opportunities would have been there. I'm sure when we look back at it we'll see loads of opportunities where if we'd scanned and passed and moved the ball quicker off the ball, we could have created chances.
"On the day maybe too many of the simple things we weren't good at. We were in the game for large periods, on another day who knows, but we go away with nothing."
He added: "Coming away from home our desire was to get the three points and at 1-0 we were still in the game. I made a triple substitution and got a lot of attacking players on the pitch in an endeavour to get something from the game.
"I'm quite a positive person and I'm quite happy to make changes when I believe they have to be done in our attempts to win a game of football. We gave ourselves an opportunity. Pavel (Pogrebnyak) forced a goal from Jordan's (Obita) cross, but the two goals we have conceded have led in a big way to our downfall."
I think Sean Dyche's first three words summed up the feeling of every Burnley supporter who watched today's game. "I am thrilled," said the Burnley manager.
He continued: "There is a time when you try and keep things steady, but I thought we delivered a fine performance today. I think that is one of the best since I've been at the club.
"There was a different kind of feel with being top of the league against a Reading team that has just come out of the Premier League, are a big club in this division and highly fancied, with a very good manager and good, experienced players.
"But I thought some of our football was terrific. We opened them up at will at times in the second half and arguably deserved to win more comfortably.
"It got a bit nervy in the final five minutes, with the mayhem that can sometimes happen from putting balls in the box, but it didn't happen, I'm pleased to say and it would have been against the grain because I thought we deserved it."
He added: "I am waxing lyrical for the first time and rightly so. I spoke to the group this week about expectations and whether that changes you as an individual and as a team. I also spoke to them about Ed Moses, who was not beaten over ten years and 122 races.
"I said 'imagine getting to 50, then 70, then 90'. What were his thoughts about the challenges, his opposition and all the science allowing everyone to get better and stronger? But he just kept winning.
"Now I'm not suggesting it's a given and I am not suggesting we will win forever, but you have to be open minded and push away that thought that we're due one (a defeat) because we're not.
"If you think about it statistically, you can win every game. It's not probably, but the mindset has to be forget the past and look to the future. Actions speak louder than words, so to go out and deliver that assured performance today is terrific.
"Now we go into the international break and we need that break. The players have put a hell of a lot in over the last six games or so, but we have laid down a marker for ourselves.
"If you keep going hard for long enough, things come your way and that is a team ethic. That is what they are doing. They are relentless at the moment. As I say, words are easy, performances less so, but they are really applying themselves."