A spirited late fightback was not enough for Reading Women as they lost 2-1 to Arsenal Ladies at Adams Park last night.

The Royals went behind to goals from Jordan Nobbs and Dominique Janssen in either half before Emma Follis’ curling effort gave them hope in the 78th minute.

The strike proved to be too little too late, but Reading forward Lauren Bruton believes there were some real positives to take form the way her team finished the match.

She told the BBC: “In the last 20 minutes we actually did really well and it’s a shame that we didn’t start that way.

“It was a tough game and it’s just a shame that we had all the pressure in the last 20 minutes, but it wasn’t meant to me.”

A vociferous crowd of 604 attended the game and Reading Women’s fixtures at Adams Park are proving to be a big draw.

Having been promoted to the Women’s Super League One (WSL1) last season, Reading have had a tough start to their first campaign in the top flight.

They are still searching for their first win of the season and their four games so far have brought just two points.

One of those matches included a 3-1 opening day defeat at Arsenal, but a run of two defeats in a row for the two time WSL1 champions gave Reading hope heading into the match.

It wasn’t to be though and Bruton was left rueing the first half opener which left Reading chasing the game heading into the interval.

She said: “We were hoping to go in 0-0 at half-time and unfortunately they scored. But we were happy with 1-0 and we knew we could push them in the second half.

“It was just a shame we let in the second goal, but we finished so strongly.”

The defeat left Reading in seventh place in the nine team league and they will be wary of the fact they have played two more matches than both of the teams below them.

Their next match comes on Monday when they entertain Sunderland. A win would see Reading move above the Black Cats depending on Sunderland’s result against league leaders Manchester City on Friday.