Stevenage manager Steve Evans criticised referee Anthony Backhouse after he sent off defender Nathan Thompson early on in the 2-0 League One defeat at lowly Reading.

Thompson saw red in only the 22nd minute for his second yellow card and Reading went on to ease past their 10-man opponents with a brace of goals from 20-year-old striker Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan either side of the interval.

Evans said: “We were down to 10 men and we had a few players on yellow cards and Reading had none for similar challenges. It was a mystery to me.

“I think that’s what refereeing provides, isn’t it – mysteries.

“For the second goal, we get beaten by a ball over the top that we wouldn’t normally concede. From then on it’s hard for us. We needed a little break to try to get back in the game.

“If it had stayed 1-0, we could have had a go and thrown a few men forward and gambled a bit. But when it’s 2-0, it’s a pretty much impossible task.

“In the end though, we can’t blame anyone else for the defeat but ourselves.

“But there was a game-changing decision [the red card], wasn’t there, that he [the referee] gets wrong.

“I’ll go and see him but there’s just been decisions that are baffling.”

Reading secured back-to-back home victories having defeated Cheltenham 1-0 on Tuesday.

Manager Ruben Selles said: “Our opponent was a really good team who we knew had had a perfect start to the season.

“We knew we had to match their physicality in certain situations, especially in the set-plays and the long balls.

“We then had to benefit from that with our own transitions. And we had to use our strengths in the game, I think the boys understood that.

“I think they understood perfectly the roles of everyone and so we were very happy with the performance and the three points.

“It is always important to try to get the first goal before half-time.

“But after the sending-off, we had to analyse how Stevenage would adjust to that. It’s not always easy against 10 players.

“One of the things we are learning as a team is what to do when we are facing those situations.

“When the opponent has one less player, we need to keep the ball and force them into some pressing situations. Like for the second goal, when we got that space.

“After that, it was just about keeping our tempo.

“Of course, it was a challenge for our youngsters – as it was in the last game [versus Cheltenham].

“We need to get used to whatever the opponent may propose and how you can match it.”