Reading 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday

Jake Cooper scores his first goal of the season for Reading

Reading fought back to earn a point and end Sheffield Wednesday's hopes of a fourth straight Championship win.

Fresh from signing a permanent deal with the Owls, Gary Hooper opened the scoring with a composed finish after the ball ricocheted to him.

Reading's Matej Vydra was then fouled by Glenn Loovens to win a penalty, but struck the post from the spot.

Jake Cooper nodded in from a corner to put Reading level before debutant Yann Kermorgant headed wide late on.

Reading had won five of their last six league matches at home against Wednesday, but were immediately under pressure, with Barry Bannan's shot hitting the inside of the post after a short free-kick routine.

The opening goal came two minutes later when Jack Hunt's cut-back via Fernando Forestieri fell to Hooper, who beat goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi to make it four goals in five appearances against the Royals.

Gary Hooper has now scored seven goals in 14 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday this season

The hosts were given a chance to equalise when Owls' captain Loovens dived in and fouled Vydra, but the Czech forward hit the upright from 12 yards.

Reading continued to have the majority of the possession after the break, but it was Wednesday's Forestieri who nearly doubled the lead, only for Chris Gunter to deflect his volley over the bar.

Cooper then scored the Royal's first set-piece goal of the season, rising highest at the back post to head past goalkeeper Keiren Westwood.

Brian McDermott's side pushed for a winner, but had made to settle for a point after Kermorgant's close-range header was off target, as they moved into 13th place in the table, with Wednesday staying sixth.

Reading boss Brian McDermott:

"The first 20 minutes, Wednesday played really well. They scored a good goal and that's why they are where they are in the league.

"Over the last 60 or 70 minutes, we definitely deserved a draw but we probably should have won.

"The fans we singing 'we've scored from a corner' and that was quite funny. I liked that.

"But we're delighted. It was a great header from Jake. And when we got back to 1-1, I thought we would go on and win the game."

Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal:

"We are in a much better position than at the start of the season and we are winning a lot of points.

"We take every game, in whichever competition, very seriously. We are outsiders for the sixth place but we are still in a very good position.

"We started the game very well with very high quality. But we lost some energy and the capacity to keep the ball in attack.

"The result wasn't what we liked or what we wanted but it's the reality. Reading had much more of the ball but we controlled the game. We always expected to create something on the counter-attack."