Watford head coach Slaven Bilic claimed his side’s 2-0 lead “should have been enough” to secure victory in their eventual 2-2 Championship draw with Reading.

At 2-0 ahead early in the second half, through goals from Ismaila Sarr and debutant Ryan Porteous, Watford appeared in control.

But Tom Ince reduced the gap for Reading from a penalty and Jeff Hendrick volleyed in a spectacular late equaliser from an Ince corner.

“At 2-0 up we were so dominant, but the game is never buried at 2-0,” Bilic said. “Still, it should have been enough.

“We had so many situations where we should have and could have scored the third goal. Then it’s game over.

“But we made so many wrong decisions, we lost so many balls in great positions. It’s ridiculous and unacceptable to do that.

“Then, out of nothing, we gave a penalty away. It was a sloppy one.

“Then, after that, fear creeps in a little bit.

“Reading send in a great ball and their guy (Hendrick) is far from the goal and no one is marking him – though to be fair, it was a great finish.

“It’s a big waste for us. We just can’t drop points like this.”

After Reading had made it 2-1, Watford thought they had regained their two-goal advantage from a deflected Matheus Martins shot – but team-mate Britt Assombalonga was in an offside position and blocking the vision of home goalkeeper Joe Lumley.

“I spoke to the referee (Steven Martin) and he said that Britt was in the view of the keeper,” Bilic said. “He was in the line of the ball and was offside.

“I don’t think Britt touched the ball but, whether he does or not, he’s offside. I’m not happy with that but I can’t argue with it.

“Sure, it was a key moment of the game – that moment and the penalty.”

Reading have now fallen six points off the play-off pace.

“I thought the game was a great advertisement for the Championship,” said assistant manager Alex Rae.

“We had a lapse of concentration for Watford’s first goal. I didn’t think it was a great goal.

“I don’t think either keeper had much to do in the first half so we were disappointed to be going in 1-0 down at half-time.

“We wanted more of the same in the second half but unfortunately we lost another goal early on. We had to defend that moment better and, from then on, it was an uphill task for us.

“But the character that the boys showed was brilliant. They worked their way back into it at a stage when we could have easily have folded.

“We could have even won it maybe. We had a couple of chances late on but we couldn’t capitalise on them.

“But both sides were trying to get a winner and I think Watford probably thought that they could nick a winner, too.”