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Steve Clarke believes the state of the pitch is a factor for his side’s poor performances at Madejski Stadium.

Last night’s drab 1-0 defeat at the hands of relegation threatened Wigan Athletic mirrored the showing against Leeds United last Tuesday when Royals went down 2-0 in front of their own supporters.

The two displays are in complete contrast to what they have produced on the road in recent weeks, when they have won superbly at both Wolves and Derby County.

When asked to explain the contrasting performances, Reading’s manager pointed to the surface at Madejski Stadium as a possible explanation.

“The state of the pitch doesn’t help,” he said.

“I don’t think they spent any money on the pitch last summer because of the financial situation.

“There’s that and the groundshare (with London Irish). But the club need the money from the rugby so it’s a catch 22 situation.

“It’s not going to get any better this year.”

Clarke, who labelled his side's display against Wigan as rubbish and embarrassing, added: “My job as manager is to try and find a different way to play, to try and turn around the home performances and the home results.

“So I will give it a little bit of thought. We have two away games now before Forest come here.

“That’s gives me a bit of time to see if I can find a solution.”

Wigan’s winner last night came after goalkeeper Adam Federici had struggled to deal with an Alex Pearce back pass.

The goalkeeper eventually scrambled the ball away for a corner but he then failed to deal with the resulting set piece, allowing Jason Pearce to prod home.

It was not the Australian keeper’s finest moment, but Clarke was quick to defend his part in the goal.

He said: “You can blame Alex Pearce for giving it back to him as well because on a pitch like that he shouldn’t have done it.

“Adam got caught. It was a good delivery in and we didn’t deal with it.

“It’s always disappointing to lose a game, especially one like that to such a soft set play goal.

“But Adam has been fantastic for us, so he’s not getting any criticism from me.”