A first-half injury time penalty from Garath McCleary has given Reading a 1-0 half-time lead over the Blues at the Madejski Stadium. Grant Ward was somewhat harshly penalised after Tyler Blackett’s cross struck his arm from close range.
Boss Mick McCarthy named the same team that defeated Preston North End 1-0 before the international break with new signings Tom Lawrence and Leon Best among the subs, along with Conor Grant, back from his groin injury.
Reading started with midfielder Joey van den Berg, who had a trial with Town in 2006, while John Swift, who spent a similar spell with the Blues in 2014, was on the bench.
The Blues, wearing their Barcelona-style third kit with new maroon shorts and socks, started brightly and Freddie Sears forced Ali Al-Habsi into a save in only the third minute.
Ward picked up a loose ball not far outside the Reading box and looped the ball over a defender. Sears took it into the area and hit a shot which Al-Habsi did well to push into the air.
Brett Pitman, playing as the central striker with Ward to his right and Sears to the left, picked up the loose ball but was flagged offside.
Reading began to dominate possession, as is their usual approach under new manager Jaap Stam, and in the eighth minute would have gone in front but for a brilliant Bartosz Bialkowski save.
Tommy Smith stabbed a loose ball back towards Bialkowski from a few yards outside the area but only succeeded in playing in Roy Beerens.
The Dutchman looked to square to Yann Kermorgant but the quickly advancing Bialkowski read it and reacted with superb reflexes to paw the ball out to Christophe Berra, who cleared the danger.
A minute later the Royals threatened again, George Evans heading over from a Beerens cross from the left.
Bialkowski made another important stop in the 26th minute when skipper Luke Chambers cleared the ball against Beerens, who took it across Tommy Smith and hit a shot which the Polish keeper saved across to his left, Berra again clearing.
Referee Jeremy Simpson got his yellow card out for the first time in the 29th minute after Liam Moore had tripped Kevin Bru as the Mauritius international took the ball round him on the outside, not far outside the box. The resultant freekick came to nothing.
The home side continued to have most of the ball but without threatening, aside from a number of balls into the box which the Blues backline and keeper Bialkowski dealt with.
On 36 Evans hit a shot from distance which deflected over, then two minutes later Chris Gunter was yellow-carded for dissent.
In the 41st minute Evans joined him in the book for diving in at Ward and catching him in the back with his knees after the Blues winger had slid in and won the ball. Some referees might have deemed the offence worthy of a straight red card with Evans not needing to make a challenge, the ball had gone, and having gone in high.
The half seemed set to end level but two minutes into injury time the Royals were awarded a spotkick.
The ball was played back to Blackett a couple of yards away from the corner of the box on the left. The former Manchester United defender slammed his cross into Ward’s arm with the winger only a matter of a couple of yards in front of him and referee Simpson pointed straight to the spot.
Although the ball clearly struck Ward’s arm, the former Spurs man would have had no time to react to the cross and it was difficult to see how the referee could have deemed the contact deliberate.
McCleary stepped up and sent Bialkowski the wrong way to send the home side in a goal in front at the break.
Up to the penalty, the Blues will have been happy enough with the half for the most part.
Aside from a couple of chances which came from Town errors, the Royals hadn’t particularly threatened, despite having a very significant share of possession.
At the other end, Town had only very occasionally caused the Reading backline any headaches with Sears’s early opportunity the nearest they had come to a goal.
Reading: Al-Habsi, Gunter, Blackett, Moore, McShane (c), Van den Berg, Evans, Williams, McCleary, Beerens, Kermorgant. Subs: Jaakkola, Swift, Mendes, Obita, Harriott, Quinn, Watson.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Ward, Sears, Pitman. Subs: Gerken, Webster, Bishop, Grant, Lawrence, Varney, Best. Referee: Jeremy Simpson (Lancashire).