Craig Conway opened his account on his full debut to give Blackburn's play-off hopes a boost.
Scotland international winger Conway signed for the club from Brighton on transfer deadline day in January and is already proving a good bit of business for boss Gary Bowyer.
But Reading skipper Jobi McAnuff had a mad twenty seconds to forget in the build up to Conway's 36th minute winner.
First he pulled rank on team mate Jordan Obite and smashed a free kick into the Blackburn wall.
Then, as Rovers broke upfield, his weak header fell to opposition striker Jordan Rhodes.
And finally he failed to clear Conway's goal bound strike from the left side of the box.
Bowyer was delighted with the win and said:
Scotland international winger Conway signed for the club from Brighton on transfer deadline day in January and is already proving a good bit of business for boss Gary Bowyer.
But Reading skipper Jobi McAnuff had a mad twenty seconds to forget in the build up to Conway's 36th minute winner.
First he pulled rank on team mate Jordan Obite and smashed a free kick into the Blackburn wall.
Then, as Rovers broke upfield, his weak header fell to opposition striker Jordan Rhodes.
And finally he failed to clear Conway's goal bound strike from the left side of the box.
Bowyer was delighted with the win and said:
"It was not the most attractive of games, but it was such a great team effort from us. They are a good team and they'll be in the shake-up for the play-offs, if not automatic, so it is a very good win for us."
"I was really pleased with an impressive away performance from us. When you come to a top team there’s going to be spells when it’s frantic and all hands on deck and the players responded magnificently.
"There’s loads of clubs in our position and we’ve got 15 games left. With what we’ve been through in the last couple of years we’re just going to try and keep picking up points and see where it takes us."
Reading boss Nigel Adkins made three changes in the 62nd minute as his side failed to reach the levels that had seem them win five of the last seven games.
But his substitutes seemed to have the same problem hitting the target as their team mates.
In the 70th minute substitute Royston Drenthe blasted wide from ten yards and three minutes later he fired over the bar from the edge of the box following a pass from fellow replacement Danny Guthrie.
But Conway continued to look a threat and curled a free kick narrowly wide of goal after Guthrie up-ended Chris Taylor 22 yards out.
Reading upped the tempo as the game moved into ELEVEN minutes of added time, but Blackburn defended bravely and in the 97th minute substitute Luke Varney even cleared the ball off Guthrie's toes as he was lying injured in the penalty area.
Reading had the better of the few chances on offer before Conway's strike.
Pavel Pogrebnyak teed up Jobi McAnuff in the eleventh minute, but the Reading skipper's low shot from the edge of the box was saved by former England stopper Paul Robinson.
And on the half hour Pogrebnyak fed winger Garath McCleary on the right who lashed the ball over from 25 yards.
Two minutes after Conway's strike leading striker Jordan Rhodes had a volley well saved at full stretch by keeper Alex McCarthy as Blackburn grew in confidence.
"I was really pleased with an impressive away performance from us. When you come to a top team there’s going to be spells when it’s frantic and all hands on deck and the players responded magnificently.
"There’s loads of clubs in our position and we’ve got 15 games left. With what we’ve been through in the last couple of years we’re just going to try and keep picking up points and see where it takes us."
Reading boss Nigel Adkins made three changes in the 62nd minute as his side failed to reach the levels that had seem them win five of the last seven games.
But his substitutes seemed to have the same problem hitting the target as their team mates.
In the 70th minute substitute Royston Drenthe blasted wide from ten yards and three minutes later he fired over the bar from the edge of the box following a pass from fellow replacement Danny Guthrie.
But Conway continued to look a threat and curled a free kick narrowly wide of goal after Guthrie up-ended Chris Taylor 22 yards out.
Reading upped the tempo as the game moved into ELEVEN minutes of added time, but Blackburn defended bravely and in the 97th minute substitute Luke Varney even cleared the ball off Guthrie's toes as he was lying injured in the penalty area.
Reading had the better of the few chances on offer before Conway's strike.
Pavel Pogrebnyak teed up Jobi McAnuff in the eleventh minute, but the Reading skipper's low shot from the edge of the box was saved by former England stopper Paul Robinson.
And on the half hour Pogrebnyak fed winger Garath McCleary on the right who lashed the ball over from 25 yards.
Two minutes after Conway's strike leading striker Jordan Rhodes had a volley well saved at full stretch by keeper Alex McCarthy as Blackburn grew in confidence.
Alex Pearce admits Reading need to think smarter at home to keep their play-off hopes on track.
Rovers set out to frustrate and looked as though they would settle for a point before Conway's goal from a swift counter attack, but central defender Pearce, 25, said:
"Certain teams are coming here now, sitting in and then hitting us on the break, so we need to deal with it. We need to make something happen rather than be too direct. We've definitely got the players to do it.
"It was a poor goal to give away and we huffed and puffed, but it just didn't quite drop for us."
But Royals striker Adam Le Fondre was furious that his appeal for a penalty was ignored by referee Graham Scott after Rovers defender Matt Kilgallon appeared to handle late on. Le Fondre, 27, said:
"It's the most blatant handball I've ever seen in my entire life. I'm sure pretty much everyone in the stadium saw that it was a penalty.
"The ref said he didn't see it - but surely the linesman has seen it. He's got a clear view and he must have seen him pull the ball away from me. I'm in the six yard box, so in my mind he's denied a goalscoring opportunity. You can't handle the ball in the area. Those decisions make the difference and we aren't getting them."
Rovers set out to frustrate and looked as though they would settle for a point before Conway's goal from a swift counter attack, but central defender Pearce, 25, said:
"Certain teams are coming here now, sitting in and then hitting us on the break, so we need to deal with it. We need to make something happen rather than be too direct. We've definitely got the players to do it.
"It was a poor goal to give away and we huffed and puffed, but it just didn't quite drop for us."
But Royals striker Adam Le Fondre was furious that his appeal for a penalty was ignored by referee Graham Scott after Rovers defender Matt Kilgallon appeared to handle late on. Le Fondre, 27, said:
"It's the most blatant handball I've ever seen in my entire life. I'm sure pretty much everyone in the stadium saw that it was a penalty.
"The ref said he didn't see it - but surely the linesman has seen it. He's got a clear view and he must have seen him pull the ball away from me. I'm in the six yard box, so in my mind he's denied a goalscoring opportunity. You can't handle the ball in the area. Those decisions make the difference and we aren't getting them."
Adkins refused to be downbeat, but admitted:
"It wasn’t a great game was it? Give them credit, they’ve come to slow the game down and they’ve done that. We've been here before and we know what is required. We have a togetherness at the club and I'd like to think that we have as good a chance of going up as anyone."
"It wasn’t a great game was it? Give them credit, they’ve come to slow the game down and they’ve done that. We've been here before and we know what is required. We have a togetherness at the club and I'd like to think that we have as good a chance of going up as anyone."
"It was a clear penalty - we just didn't get the rub of the green on it. Alfie's six yards from goal so it's a penalty.
"We got the ball in the penalty area enough times, but give Blackburn credit because they had something to hold on to, which they did. They showed great spirit so I'm not going to take anything away from them.
"It's disappointing because we've been on a good run of form and got some good momentum but we weren't able to capitalise on that today.
But Adkins is still confident of a top seven finish and explained:
"We are on 50 points and we've looked over the history of how many points are going to be required to get in the play-offs so we know what we've got to go and achieve.
"There's lots of games to go and we're right in the mix, as are a lot of teams, but we've got a team who work extremely hard and got a great spirit."
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