Cardiff City 2-0 Reading

Kenwyne Jones heads Cardiff's opening goal against Reading

Cardiff City ended their goal drought with a 2-0 win against Reading.

Kenwyne Jones became the first Cardiff player to score since 3 October as he headed them in front before half-time.

Matt Connolly doubled the lead as he nodded in from a corner, before David Marshall preserved the hosts' clean sheet with several fine saves.

The result sees Cardiff leapfrog Reading into seventh spot in the Championship, three points behind the play-off places.

A first victory in four games is also a timely lift for Bluebirds manager Russell Slade, who had watched his side fail to find the net in their previous three outings.

Cardiff celebrate Matt Connolly's goal against Reading

More than nine hours of play had elapsed since a Cardiff player last scored - Joe Mason's strike five minutes into the 1-1 draw at Brighton on 3 October.

The Bluebirds had managed one win since then - beating Middlesbrough thanks to George Friend's own goal - but the barren spell made for an agitated atmosphere at Cardiff City Stadium.

Cardiff winger Craig Noone alleviated the tension with numerous darting runs inside from the right flank, twice forcing Reading goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi into saves.

His opposite number Marshall was also called into action as he dived low to his right to brilliantly deny Nick Blackman after a swift Reading counter-attack.

But it was the hosts who were in charge, and they took the lead when Jones headed firmly into the bottom corner from Joe Ralls' free-kick.

That goal seemed to settle Cardiff's nerves, and they stretched their advantage after 53 minutes as Ralls' corner was headed in by centre-back Connolly.

Aron Gunnarsson was close to adding a third with a low shot which zipped wide, while substitute Idriss Saadi was denied a goal seconds into his Cardiff debut as his effort was saved by Al-Habsi.

Reading poured forward late on in a bid to salvage a point, but they were thwarted by an inspired Marshall, whose three sharp saves in a minute prompted a standing ovation from the home fans.

Cardiff manager Russell Slade: "It was another good performance. We defended well though we made a couple of errors but fortunately David Marshall was there to deal with those problems - there were four or five of those and he's made great saves for us.

"Going forward I thought we created a lot more today, our quality of ball into the box was much better and that was highlighted by the two goals we scored from the set plays.

"It was always going to come but we've been a bit limited in terms of options, and Kenwyne Jones scored and stepped up to the plate by starting his first game since the last international break.

"And Mark Pilkington I think put in a strong performance and a strong performance from too from Craig Noone. I thought we were a real threat in those wide areas."

Reading boss Steve Clarke: "David Marshall was terrific today and the fact he got man of the match shows we weren't far away from a good result.

"We knew they would be a threat at set-plays, but we were very disappointed with the referee - the free-kick he gave for the first goal was very soft.

"They got the first goal which made it difficult for us as well and conceding from a corner is not like us.

"I have to give credit to the players because they kept going and kept trying and on another day some of those shots could have gone in."