Reading 0-2 Swansea City

Mawson (second left) scored his fifth goal for Swansea

Swansea scored a controversial second goal as they beat Reading to progress to the Carabao Cup fourth round.

Reading's George Evans saw his pass hit the referee, allowing Leroy Fer to play Jordan Ayew in on goal, as the striker cut in from the left and curled home.

Alfie Mawson scored the opener after finding space in the box from a Renato Sanches corner and flicking home.

Reading's best chance fell to winger Adrian Popa, but the Romanian could not hit the target with his effort.

• Relive action from the Carabao Cup

Victory means Swansea have now won 14 of their last 17 League Cup contests against lower league opponents, but their two goals did not come until the second half.

Luciano Narsingh had a goal disallowed in the opening period and the Dutchman had an effort saved by the legs of Reading goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola.

On-loan Bayern Munich midfielder Sanches impressed on the ball and the returning Wilfried Bony - re-signed from Manchester City for £12m - had a couple of efforts blocked.

Despite Mawson's opener, the home side were very much in the game with seven minutes remaining, before Evans' pass struck referee Andy Davies, allowing the Swans to finish off the tie.

Swansea manager Paul Clement: "We're very pleased to go through. I expected a difficult game because Reading are a good side and were unlucky not to come up last season. We had some difficulty in the first half.

"Second half the set-play changed the rhythm of game and we could make things nice and compact and then we could wait for our moment to counter-attack and that's how the game unfolded."