Reading 1-2 Burton Albion
- Published
Tom Naylor's winner at Reading was his second goal of the season
Tom Flanagan's first goal in over five years and a freak Tom Naylor winner gave Burton three points at Reading to lift them out of the relegation zone.
The Brewers went in front when Flanagan scored from Lucas Akins' long throw, only the sixth goal of his career.
Modou Barrow equalised for Reading 14 minutes from time when he latched onto Liam Kelly's cross.
But Naylor charged down Liam Moore's clearance and the ball bounced in as fortune favoured Nigel Clough's side.
The victory not only gave Burton their first back-to-back wins of the campaign, but the draw between Sunderland and Birmingham meant they climbed out of the bottom three.
Reading, meanwhile, are 14th following a second straight defeat.
A fairly uneventful first half appeared to be ending goalless until five minutes before the break, when Flanagan poked in to end a personal goal drought stretching back to October 2012.
Sone Aluko had narrowly fired wide before Reading levelled through Barrow, but one of the more unusual goals of the Championship season gave Burton the points.
Reading manager Jaap Stam said:
"After conceding two goals like that, it's frustrating. But to be honest, in how we played today, that's one of our worst games since I've been here.
"Quality on the ball, touches on the ball, choices - all basically wrong. Maybe it was because we wanted it too much.
"We made the wrong choices and did things too quickly."
Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough:
"When you concede an equaliser and Reading are pushing for the winner, that's when your character shows up.
"Although the winning goal was a bit fortunate, I think that we deserved it over the course of the game.
"We would have been happy with a point before the match but the way the game went, we'd have been disappointed with that.