"I can't remember when we last created so many clear-cut chances as we did in the first half," the Blues boss said after the 3-2 defeat at St Andrew's. "When you miss those kinds of chances you know you're up against it. They only had a couple of chances in the first half and scored from both of them. "But it was a good cup tie. It was a pity we didn't score our second goal earlier than the last minute as we could have made it very interesting. "It could easily have been another Newcastle. You have to accept it. That's what the game's all about. "We made two defensive mistakes and it cost us the match. But I was disappointed with how we defended. "To be fair to Reading they had their best spell after we scored when they were in control. It was a cracking cup tie but it simply wasn't our day. "Now we have to concentrate on the league and we're back in action again on Tuesday. I've tried to copy Reading's approach and I now have a young side, which looked very good today."