Oxford United boss Graham Rix said he couldn't fault his team for effort or spirit as they bowed out of the Carling Cup.

The U's were beaten 2-0 by Reading in the first round at the Kassam Stadium.

The Royals struck twice in the second half as they knocked their derby rivals out of the competition for the second season running.

But Rix was not despondent.

"I was disappointed with the result, and with the goals because we gave them the ball for both of them," he said.

"But we gave a good account of ourselves against a very good side."

Danny Brown was a double villain at the start of the second half, missing a great chance to open the scoring, and then giving the ball away for Reading's first goal.

Rix said: "It was a great opportunity and I know the crowd were getting onto him after that.

"But there were a lot of plusses for me, the way we moved about especially, and I thought Jon Ashton had another good game at the back.

"Our build-up play was not bad, though the final ball could have been better."

Reading showed the class of a team two divisions higher with strikes from second-choice striker Shaun Goater and midfielder Andy Hughes.

Reading boss Steve Coppell said: "Oxford had a great chance at the start of the second half where the player missed, thank goodness. Our first goal settled us down.

"I thought the score was a fair reflection of the play.

"This was a potential banana skin for us but we were very professional."

United youngster Paul Burton came on for his debut late on after Julian Alsop hurt his back in the warm-up.

One surprise was the gate, with fewer than 6,000 coming to the match, some supporters scared off by last season's crowd trouble.