Boss Paul Warne reacts to a fifth defeat on the trot for Rotherham United

The Millers this afternoon fell to their fourth successive 1-0 defeat, against Reading at AESSEAL New York Stadium, and hit the target only once in 17 attempts on goal.

They remained third bottom and the gap between them and safety following Michael Morrison's 26th-minute winner for the Royals has grown to five points.

Warne, said: “I think against a good Reading team we created enough to get something out of the game.

"You're judged on your two boxes and we just weren't good enough in the final third."

Michael Smith and Freddie Ladapo, twice, both had big opportunities to score but failed to trouble the goalkeeper while Ben Wiles' shot in stoppage time took a deflection and went just wide.

“I was just waiting for the net to ripple. Lady luck has eluded us with the deflected shot," Warne said.

“We are creating chances, we're just not taking them. Sometimes you need one chance to win a game. If we weren't creating anything it would be an even bigger problem."

Rotherham, now on a run of five consecutive defeats, lost defender Clark Robertson to injury after just 15 minutes.

"We had to change our shape which was a massive blow," Warne said.

Next up for the Millers is a Wednesday trip to derby rivals Sheffield Wednesday, the team one place below them in the table.

Surveying the run-in, Warne said: “We have got 15 absolute fights ahead of us to stay up.”

Reading manager Veljko Paunovic was relieved to see his side get their play-off push back on track after just one victory in their previous six outings.

He said: “I am very happy with the result and the performance too. Today was very hard for us.

"We defended the set-pieces, which was crucial."