Burnley 1-2 Reading

Nick Blackman scored his eighth goal of the season for Reading

Reading scored twice in the opening nine minutes against Burnley to earn their fourth away win in a row and move third in the Championship.

They led when Nick Blackman slotted home from Hal Robson-Kanu's back-heel.

It was soon 2-0 as Chelsea loanee Lucas Piazon finished a fine counter-attack for his first Reading goal.

The hosts pulled one back when Tendayi Darikwa tapped in at the back post from Scott Arfield's delivery, but a first home defeat drops them to sixth.

With his side lacking in creativity, Clarets manager Sean Dyche brought on former QPR midfielder Joey Barton for his debut, but Darikwa's first goal for the club was as good as it got for the home side.

They were undone by a fine start from the Royals, who took the lead when Burnley defender Michael Keane failed to clear, allowing Wales international Robson-Kanu to brilliantly set up Blackman, who calmly finished into the corner.

Steve Clarke's side then produced a superb passing move, with Chris Gunter putting in a low right-wing cross for Brazilian Piazon to score on his fourth Royals appearance.

Burnley, who had begun the day third in the table, saw Michael Kightly force visiting keeper Jonathan Bond into a fine save, but that was as close as they came in the first half.

After Darikwa's goal, Burnley forward Sam Vokes' deflected strike was parried by Bond, but the Clarets needed Darikwa to clear off the line from Blackman.

At the other end, Oliver Norwood cleared off his own line from Keane's header, and Norwood then hit the bar with a free-kick as the Royals held on to move above their hosts.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche:

"It's unusual for us to start so sloppy really. They scored a first from us crossing the ball and a breakaway and a bit of a mix-up really so it's a mistake from us and the second one was good play from them.

"After that I thought the response was excellent. The way the team went about it for the rest of the game, the chances we created were certainly enough to get something from the game.

"We kept them to mainly long-distance efforts apart from one at the end where it got a bit of a scramble in the box.

"You can't give a two-goal head-start to anyone at any level of football. It's very difficult then."

Reading boss Steve Clarke:

"The idea is always to be competitive in the division and I think after quite a slow start, not performance-wise but results-wise, we're starting to pick up wins now so that's four wins out of the last five games.

"If you continue to do that in this league, who knows what can happen because if you're able to string together a run of wins, as Burnley did which took them into the top six and as we've done recently, you can quickly get up the table.

"But there's no point in getting too excited about the table in September."

Lucas Piazon (left) celebrates his goal with provider Chris Gunter (centre)

Joey Barton played in his first competitive game since May - when playing for QPR in their 5-1 defeat by Leicester