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Dean Marney, otherwise close to a man of the match performance, was the main culprit when it came to not taking the goalscoring opportunities but when the defending is, at times, like parks football you are going to concede poor goals.
Both managers had said they would make changes having played only two days earlier. Brian McDermott made four, bringing in Jem Karacan and Noel Hunt as well as Jobi McAnuff and Mikele Leigertwood who had recovered from illness and injury respectively.
There were three changes in the Burnley side. Jack Cork returned at the expense of captain Graham Alexander, Ross Wallace came in for Jay Rodriguez and Steven Thompson was preferred to Chris Iwelumo up front. Incredibly this was only a second league start for Thommo since promotion in 2009, the other coming in last season's home game against Stoke, and he impressed.
On a bitterly cold afternoon in Berkshire, and on a pitch that looked anything but good, the game kicked off late but if referee Graham Scott was late getting it underway he certainly wasn't with his cards.
He waved his yellow card at Thompson for an apparent elbow with just over three minutes on the clock and it was evident throughout the game that here was a referee who was always more likely to yellow card an away team player than a home team player. I've no argument with the three we got but I wonder just how on earth Reading collected only one.
We struggled in the opening exchanges and looked decidedly shaky at the back. Thankfully the only real opportunity for the home side saw Shane Long hit a shot over the bar.
The first ten to fifteen minutes were not good viewing for Burnley fans and little of the play was down at the end we were attacking, the end where some nineteen months ago we saw Martin Paterson and Thommo score those wonder goals.
Things were soon to change however, and Marney was to become the central character in most of it. He made a brilliant run that almost set up a goal for us and then two minutes later should have scored himself.
It was Cork who got the ball in from the right. Thommo expertly dummied in the centre and that left Marney with just Adam Federici to beat from some fifteen yards out. HIs shot was poor and straight at the goalkeeper. A massive chance to go 1-0 up had been lost.
Almost immediately he got another opportunity after great work from Wade Elliott. This time he put his shot wide of the target but in fairness he was off balance after a less than legal push from the Reading defender.
It was all Burnley now but in one Reading counter attack we saw Jobi McAnuff going down in the box. McAnuff was a very lucky player not to have been sent off in the game at Turf Moor. How on earth he wasn't carded for this only referee Scott will know.
Still, Reading got the punishment they deserved when, in our very next attack, we took the lead. Chris Eagles, who had a very frustrating afternoon, played the ball inside two defenders for Tyrone Mears. The right-back, who was in excellent form throughout, played it back across the box and on the ground.
It found Ross Wallace who took a touch before making no mistake whatsoever. So often we've had good spells in games this season without taking advantage. This time we got the goal our play so richly deserved. By now there was only one team in this game.
Incredibly, and ridiculously, the lead lasted just three minutes. It was nothing more than the left back hitting the ball forward. A Reading player got to it ahead of Michael Duff on the half way line and as he played it through for Long he run on as Clarke Carlisle stood with his hand in the air, looking in vain for an offside flag.
That was it; he was through, and he made absolutely no mistake. You just can't allow a player of this quality that sort of opportunity. We virtually opened the door for him and waved him through.
Even so we remained on top and it was again Mears who got a great ball back into the box. There was Marney again and this time he hammered a shot against the bar. That one really was unfortunate and it allowed Reading to go in level, and they really didn't deserve that.
The first action of the second half saw Jimmy Kebe get past Brian Easton and only superb work from Mears at the far post prevented us from going behind. Easton had coped well with Kebe in the first half but this was a foretaste of what was to come for the remainder of the game.
They caused us so many problems down that side as Kebe got on top, but worst of all, all they had to do to create opportunities was to hit balls down the middle. We having problems with them now and it was becoming a difficult second half.
Very little was being seen of us in attack and the only thing of note was a move that led to Eagles getting in a header.
If anyone was going to grab the initiative now it was Reading and with just over twenty minutes remaining they did just that and what a poor goal it was again. From a left wing corner hit to the far post, Easton just let Long go and allowed him a free header. From 1-0 up we'd given away too horrible goals and now we were staring at a fourth away defeat of the season.
Even so, we should have been level three minutes later but Marney shot wide. This one was on a par with the first miss and signalled the end of the afternoon for the midfielder with Jay Rod coming on.
He really had been in outstanding form but the first and last chances just have to buried. They, along with the comedic defending cost us this game. If Marney played that well every week there really would, overall, be no complaints. It was like having Chris McCann back.
Stuart Gray threw on both John Guidetti and Iwelumo as we searched for an equaliser but in truth it was Reading, now with acres of space to break into, who came closest. Easton blocked one effort on the line and then Mears brilliantly got across to prevent them getting a shot in.
Then, we got our final chances. Eagles saw a shot tipped round by Federici for a corner and in the very last minute of stoppage time Wallace hit a free kick onto the bar, the second time we'd hit the woodwork.
A 2-1 defeat in the end but on the overall play we should have got something from this game, absolutely no doubt about that. But you don't win games if you miss chances like that and give goals away like that.
If we are to make any progress then we really are going to have to start coming home from away games with the points we should be getting. Add this one to Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Norwich.
The teams were;
Reading: Adam Federici, Andy Griffin, Matt Mills, Alex Pearce, Ian Harte, Jimmy Kebe, Mikele Leigertwood, Jem Karacan (Hal Robson-Kanu 67), Jobi McAnuff, Noel Hunt (Simon Church 72), Shane Long. Subs not used: Alex McCarthy, Shaun Cummings, Zurab Khizanishvili, Jay Tabb, Brian Howard.
Yellow Card: Jimmy Kebe.
Burnley: Lee Grant, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Michael Duff, Brian Easton (Chris Iwelumo 84), Jack Cork, Wade Elliott, Dean Marney (Jay Rodriguez 71), Chris Eagles, Steven Thompson (John Guidetti 79), Ross Wallace. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, David Edgar, Andre Bikey, Graham Alexander.
Yellow Cards: Steven Thompson, Tyrone Mears, Michael Duff.
Referee: Graham Scott (Oxfordshire).
Attendance: 16,151 (including 891 Clarets).