Reading FC 0-2 Birmingham City: Initial Reaction

Reading's two-match winning run ended on a wet afternoon at the Madejski as goals from Clayton Donaldson and Ryan Shotton gave Birmingham a well deserved win against a poor Royals side.

Brian McDermott went with an unchanged lineup to the one that beat Nottingham Forest in midweek but any hopes for that momentum carrying over were swiftly crushed after Clayton Donaldson capitalised on some sloppy defending to give Birmingham a lead just 75 seconds into the contest.

As the rain picked up, so did the sense of panic in the Reading team, who struggles to create much more than a Licas Piazon effort that blazed over the bar. While Birmingham's play-off hopes may be slim, the quality that has kept them in contention all season was there to see as they fought hard to keep control.

That hard work soon paid off as a Birkingham free-kick was well saved by Ali Al-Habsi down to his right, but all the Omani could manage was to push it into the path of Ryan Shotton who calmly slotted home to make it 2-0.

As the weather changed at the break, so did Readig as Vydra came on for Piazon but despite further changes that saw McCleary on for Gunter and John for Cox, there was no way back. Birmingham fully deserved their win and Reading's players need to take a good look a themselves after a truly pitiful performance all round.

Becka will be along with a full report and ratings later on, where we'll truly get to the bottom of a horrid performance but meanwhile, try and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Reading: Al-Habsi, Obita, McShane, Cooper, Gunter (McCleary), Norwood, Williams, Quinn, Piazon (Vydra), Cox (John),  Kermorgant