Coppell: I’ll take rap for Rovers rout

"To be honest I tried a different formation," said Coppell. "It was 100 per cent my fault. I got it wrong."

Reading were three down in half-anhour and in danger of collapsing as they did when they lost 7-4 at Portsmouth.

But they reverted to their natural game, restricted Blackburn to a second-half penalty and made the scoreline respectable with two late Kevin Doyle strikes.

Blackburn tore into their opponents and soon worked out how to crack the Reading defence. First, Benni McCarthy hooked in his fifth goal of the season after Roque Santa Cruz headed back Brett Emerton's cross.

Then David Dunn cut open Reading with a slide-rule pass and Santa Cruz rolled the ball beneath advancing goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann.

But Reading's defence were absolved from blame when Tugay let fly from 35 yards and the ball swerved through Hahnemann's hands just beneath the crossbar.

Even when Doyle sparked belated hopes with a close-range header, Rovers responded within two minutes as Sonko tripped Matt Derbyshire and McCarthy rapped in the perfect penalty.

Doyle's second goal merely massaged the scoreline and Blackburn boss Mark Hughes was right to stress the gulf between the sides.

He said: 'We were excellent in the final third, Tugay scored an exceptional goal and although we conceded from two set-pieces late on we were never in danger of losing our grip. We naturally lost a bit of intensity but we're playing with great confidence at the moment.

"The league is starting to take shape and we're in a group of teams just below the leaders so I'm very pleased with our progress."