Nigel Pearson bemoaned one lapse of concentration that cost his side three points but set his Bristol City side the target of being more ruthless in front of goal going forward.
The hosts dominated possession for large periods, creating openings from wide areas but were often left frustrated with their final ball. Nahki Wells thought he scored the opener but was adjudged offside when he turned in Andi Weimann's initial strike from close range.
As the first half was drawing to an end, a superb piece of play down the right proved the catalyst for Tommy Conway to grab his 10th goal of the season. Weimann fed the forward to laid it first time into the path of George Tanner.
The full-back showed composure to lay it back into Conway's path who showed no mistake on his return from a hamstring injury. He is now one goal behind strike partner Nahki Wells in the race to become the club's top scorer, despite missing the last three months with injury.
City were comfortable in the second half with Anis Mehmeti getting joy down the left side. But they were punished for failing to put the game to bed in the 72nd minute of the game.
Matty James conceded a free-kick midway inside his own half which was pumped towards target man Andy Carroll on the edge of the box. He was left unmarked, winning the initial header which Lucas Joao turned in beyond Max O'Leary.
Wells had a second goal disallowed for being offside, which Pearson confirmed he was offside, before Andy King almost won it right at the end when his header hit the outside of the post. Reading also missed a golden opportunity on the counter-attack when Joao got the ball caught under his feet.
"We should have won the game, I thought we played very well," Pearson said after the game. "We created chances and hit the target plenty of times. We were done with a bit of a suckerpunch defending a set-play but that was always going to be their route into the game.
"I thought we defended set-plays very well apart from the one in which they scored but there you are, that's life. People have jobs to do and when they switch off, that happens.
"All I will say is we’ve created lots of opportunities, I think we’ve played really positively, the tempo with which we passed the ball was really good and when you play a side like Reading whose physical stats are really good, they’re bigger than us, much bigger.
"But we have better running stats and it was important for us to take advantage of that. On another day we probably would get what we deserve but I don’t begrudge them because they’re fighting for their lives.
"I thought they were very committed, playing for the manager. It's Championship football, and the lesson for our lads to learn is to put sides like that to bed because on another day we would’ve won that game relatively comfortably.
"But whenever it's 1-0 against sides with that amount of height, there are going to be opportunities."
Conway's performance was a real positive, earning 60 minutes on his return and justifying his selection from the start. He started in the No10 position, showing glimpses of his quality with tidy link-up play, and earned a hug from the manager in the touchline when he was replaced by Harry Cornick.
Pearson played down his goal after the game, saying that's what he's paid to do. He added: "Tommy did what he's there to do and that is be himself. I thought he did alright, I thought he did fine.
"He's still got a way to go to get back to his best but really good to have him back, he's a popular player. So it's really good to have him back but that's what he's paid to do and do what he does."
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