Neil Adams insisted Norwich City were not guilty of complacency after their Championship revival stalled at Reading.

The Canaries slumped to a 2-1 defeat at the Madejski Stadium as the struggling Royals completed a swift league double to halt City's recent upturn, which had seen them take 10 points from 12.

Adams admitted his squad were second best but the Norwich boss refused to hide behind excuses after defeat in Berkshire.

'It definitely wasn't complacency. And it definitely wasn't two games in three days and the physical effects of that,' he said. 'The performance just wasn't there. The players always work hard but the quality was missing. You can normally tell with this group of players that sooner or later we will get it down and play and we'll edge our way back in and dominate it. 'We had a lot of the ball but it wasn't really meaningful possession in the second half. We came up short without a shadow of a doubt.'

Adams will warn his players there is no time to lick their wounds as they look to pick up the pace again and stay in touch with the top six.

'The message has to be go again,' he said. 'The games come thick and fast now. It will return to a Saturday, Tuesday schedule as it was before. We have to make sure we look after ourselves and not worry about anyone else.

'We did it before when Reading won at our place. We said we needed to get back on track and the Wigan game was key. We went solid at Wigan, followed it up and you could see the confidence in the players because that style from the early part of the season was back.'