Reading 2-3 Shrewsbury Town

Reading slipped to defeat against fellow League One strugglers Shrewsbury Town in an entertaining encounter.

Three goals in the opening nine minutes provided an electric start to the contest, as Shrewsbury went 2-0 ahead through Jordan Shipley and Tom Bayliss.

Reading swiftly replied when striker Sam Smith slotted home his eighth goal of the season and they made it 2-2 through Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan.

But Tom Bloxham regained the lead for Town just before the break, which they successfully defended throughout a largely uneventful second half.

Town made a lightning start, when Shipley superbly volleyed in from a clearly pre-planned Bayliss corner move in the third minute.

Two minutes later, Bayliss cut into the area and beat home goalkeeper David Button at his near post with a crisp shot.

But Reading responded in the ninth minute, when Smith coolly clipped in past Marko Marosi from a precise Harvey Knibbs pass.

Ehibhatiomhan levelled on 36 minutes when his deflected effort looped in over Marosi for his ninth goal of the campaign, but Bloxham struck in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time with an angled 20-yard drive.

Reading then dominated most of the second period but, apart from Marosi's superb save to deny Femi Azeez from close range, Shrewsbury held on reasonably comfortably.

Match report supplied by PA Media.