Nigel Clough was left rueing Derby County's bad luck after last night's 4-1 defeat at Reading.

The Rams lost in-form striker Chris Porter earlier in the day due to illness, and goalkeeper Stephen Bywater had to be replaced early on with a back injury.

Bywater's understudy Saul Deeney was sent off before the interval for a professional foul which meant skipper Robbie Savage had to don the gloves for the remainder of the game.

Clough also admitted he felt his side didn't perform to the standard they have reached in recent weeks.

"We didn't look as solid as we have recently," said the Rams chief.

"Teams have had to work hard to create chances of late, but from the first few seconds Reading looked dangerous and created quite a few chances.

"It was a night of bad luck which I hope has been used up in one game and everything that possibly could go wrong seemed to.

"We have to dust ourselves down and move on to Saturday at Doncaster where hopefully we can get a result."

Clough felt Deeney's dismissal, on his Derby debut after spending the season on the bench as cover for Bywater, was harsh.

He said: "Saul was doing well before the red card; he made a good save and also caught a difficult cross.

"I didn't think for one minute he was going to be sent off; I think it was a bit harsh to be honest.

"It was between Sav and Jay McEveley to go in goal once Saul was off, and to be honest he pulled off a few great saves."

In all the madess, Gilles Sunu's first Derby goal may have gone un-noticed but Clough is very excited about what the France U19 international can bring to the Rams.

"It was a great finish from Gilles, we have seen him producing efforts like that in training," he said.

"To get another 75 minutes or so at this level is good for him and we're quite excited about what he can produce for us over the next few months."