Reading relegated: Huddersfield win sends Royals down to League One

Reading were given a six-point deduction in April

Reading have been relegated to League One after Huddersfield beat Sheffield United to get the point they needed to secure their Championship survival.

The Royals needed the promoted Blades to beat their Yorkshire rivals to take their hopes of staying up to the final day - when they face Huddersfield.

Managerless Reading are now four points from safety with one game remaining.

Next season will be the former Premier League side's first in the third tier of English football for 21 years.

Reading's tumble down the table is a crushing blow for a team that enjoyed a brief stint at the top of the Championship after winning four of their opening six games.

They were 10th at the turn of the year - level on points with then sixth-placed Middlesbrough - but a series of injuries, coupled with a transfer embargo, meant they could not strengthen in January.

The club failed to pick up a league victory between the end of December and mid-February and are currently on a 12-game winless run.

To add to their poor form Reading were docked six points by the EFL for breaching the terms of a profit and sustainability plan to manage their spending.

Manager Paul Ince, who had successfully guided them to Championship safety last season, said the road ahead was going to be tough.

But two games and two defeats later the club sacked him, with five matches remaining.

They have drawn three of their past four fixtures under interim boss Noel Hunt but their decade-long stay in the Championship is now over.

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