Reading survived a Nottingham Forest comeback and the dismissal of Chris Gunter to come away from the City Ground tonight with a 3-2 Championship victory.
The Royals scored twice inside the opening 13 minutes through Pavel Pogrebnyak and Kasper Gorkss, before Simon Cox pulled one back for the hosts shortly before the interval.
Darius Henderson equalised for the Reds, only for Jordan Obita to restore Reading's lead and although Gunter saw red late on, the visitors hung on for a win that sees them leapfrog Forest in the table.
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The Berkshire outfit had gone four games without victory heading into this meeting with their fellow promotion hopefuls, but were soon in command when Pogrebnyak netted his fifth goal of the season.
Former Forest winger Garath McCleary was the creator as he drove past two red shirts and into the box, before crossing for the Russian international striker to tap in at the far post.
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Reading had doubled their advantage less than five minutes later, as Gorkss generated remarkable power on a stooping header from Danny Guthrie's corner to convert into the roof of the net.
Billy Davies's side began their recovery from a disastrous first half-an-hour as Henri Lansbury twice went close with curling efforts, before Cox combined with Mackie to reduce their deficit on 40 minutes.
Mackie ran onto Gonzalo Jara's header over the top and then crossed for Cox to net what was his third goal in as many Championship games with almost a replica of Pogrebnyak's effort from close range.
Henderson, playing against the team with whom he began his career, was one of two half-time substitutions made by Davies, and he equalised on the hour mark, collecting a pass inside from Cox before a great first touch allowed him to run into the box and tuck the ball under Royals stopper Alex McCarthy.
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Forest had all of the momentum in their favour, but were caught out on the break as McCleary's misdirected pass fell to Obita, who smashed a shot under home keeper Karl Darlow and into the net.
Gunter, who had picked up an earlier booking for handball, was shown a second yellow card on 83 minutes after tugging down Cox, but Forest could not muster up another response as Reading claimed three points which see them climb above the East Midlands club and into fourth in the Championship.
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