A debut goal from Craig Conway was enough to seal maximum points for Blackburn Rovers at Reading in this afternoon's Championship fixture at the Madejski Stadium.
The hosts were quickest off the starting blocks, with Jobi McAnuff testing visiting goalkeeper Paul Robinson early on following good work by Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Nigel Adkins's side had a glorious opportunity to take the lead with less than 20 minutes on the clock when Hope Akpan combined with McAnuff before driving an effort into the side-netting.
Reading continued to dominate play, but fell behind in the 36th minute when Conway capitalised on poor defending from the hosts and guided the ball beyond Alex McCarthy.
Jordan Rhodes came close to doubling Blackburn's lead ahead of half time, but the Scotland international's header was well saved by McCarthy.
The match turned scrappy after the break, although the Royals almost drew themselves level in the 69th minute through substitute Royston Drenthe, whose side-footed effort from Jordan Obita's cross flew narrowly wide of the mark.
Drenthe came close again in the 73rd minute, lashing a strike over the bar from just outside the box, moments after Conway had missed an opportunity at the other end from a similar distance.
Blackburn defended in great numbers in the latter stages and frustrated their opponents, a tactic which paid off as the visitors held out through nine minutes of stoppage time to take maximum points.
Mark Langshaw
