Roberto Di Matteo could not hide his disappointment after watching his side crash out of the FA Cup in extra time. The Baggies were only seconds away from reaching the quarter finals but were pegged back at the death after a Gianni Zuiverloon error allowed Brian Howard to equaliser in the third minute of stoppage time. Gylfi Sigurdsson’s curling effort five minutes into extra time, following Abdoulaye Meite’s mistake, then compounded Di Matteo’s misery.
The Baggies got off to an excellent start when Robert Koren fired Albion into a sixth minute lead. However Reading, this season’s giant killers, levelled three minutes later when Jimmy Kebe poked home a rebounded Sigurdsson shot.
After the break Koren again restored Albion’s lead in bizarre fashion when his weak volley somehow squirmed through the grasp of Royals keeper Adam Federici two minutes after the break. However, with just seconds remaining, Gianni Zuiverloon’s mis-control saw Kebe find Howard in the area who gladly sent the tie into extra time with Sigurdsson’s effort enough for the visitors to set-up a quarter-final tie with Aston Villa.
"Personally, I'm destroyed because we were in the driving seat and it wasn't even a dangerous situation that led to their late equaliser," the Baggies boss admitted.
"All we needed to do was clear the ball.
"We put a lot of effort in and we worked very hard to win the game and you come away with nothing.
"On their second and third goals, we just didn't defend and gave them gifts to win the game."
He added: We've worked really hard and wanted to get through, which is why we put so much effort in.
"We worked very hard at Reading when we went down and got back into the game and tonight you could see how much it meant to the players.
"We were in the driving seat and played well.
"We did everything to win the game and then we just threw it away."