Manager Steve Coppell claimed there was 'honour in defeat' for Reading last night after a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Manchester United at the Madejski Stadium.

The Royals trailed 3-0 after just six minutes but fought back in amazing fashion. Goals from Dave Kitson and Leroy Lita set up a pulsating finish, and one of the most astonishing comebacks in the competition's history would have been completed had Brynjar Gunnarsson not rattled the crossbar in stoppage time.

"It is not often you say there can be honour in defeat but that is the position we are in tonight," said Coppell. "I have to compliment my players. They are all warriors. They didn't lay down and die, they got back up again and fought, which is one of the best qualities to have."

Throughout his illustrious career as a player and manager, Coppell admitted he had never endured a start as catastrophic as this one. Gabriel Heinze, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer all found the target during a mesmerising opening spell, leaving Coppell to fear the worst.

"It was crash, bang, wallop," he said. "I have never been three goals down so quickly before. We have no excuses. It
was a really sloppy start. I did say before the game we couldn't lose. When I looked at the scoreline at that stage I thought 'we are not going to lose, we are going to get absolutely hammered'.

"It was madness but there was no way we were going to throw away all we have done in the past two seasons in the three minutes, 20 seconds it took them to score those three goals."

A quarter-final trip to Middlesbrough now awaits United, although before that they  face a crucial Premiership encounter at Liverpool, when many pundits believe victory will effectively clinch the championship.

However, Ferguson knows his side will have to defend far more effectively than they did tonight.

"We had fantastic chances to kill the game but we kept running with the ball and on a pitch like that it just doesn't work," he said. "We kept giving them lifeline after lifeline and when they scored a second with six or seven minutes to go anything could have happened.

"In the end, we managed to ride our luck and we have come through a magnificent cup tie."