The Royals were ahead inside a minute through Craig Tanner’s neat finish and it was literally the kiss of death four minutes later when Reading youngster Lawson D’Ath scored a memorable second from 25 yards to make it 2-0.
Two down inside five minutes, City at least had plenty of time to recover and tried to work their way back into the game, but offered little in the way of attacking threat, despite Denis Suarez’s best efforts.
Any hopes of a revival were killed off on the stroke of half-time when Dominic Samuel scored a brilliant individual effort, beating three City defenders before planting the ball past Eirik Holmen Johansen for the hosts’ third and final goal.
Reading, under the watchful eye of first-team boss Brian McDermott, kept Johansen busy after the break but couldn’t muster any real attempts on goal on a miserable afternoon in Berkshire for Attilio Lombardo’s team.
As a result, Reading now leapfrog City at the top of the National Group 2 table and are three points clear of the Blues.
