Tom Ince's 69th-minute goal proved enough for Derby County to register their second victory in a week with a patient win over 10-man Reading this evening.
Paul Clement's side, fresh from their first win of the season away to Preston North End on Saturday, started brightly as Jeff Hendrick's early shot flew inches wide of the Royals' goal.
Reading, who beat Ipswich Town 5-1 at the weekend, almost found a breakthrough of their own soon after Nick Blackman's strike was tipped away by Rams stopper Scott Carson.
Stephen Quinn then fired wide for the hosts before Richard Keogh was denied by Jonathan Bond at the other end.
Oliver Norwood almost snatched the lead for Reading before the break as he brought another save out of Carson, but the Berkshire club's hopes of victory suffered a body blow as Orlando Sa was given a red card for his challenge on Jason Shackell.
Looking to make the most of their one-man advantage, Bradley Johnson and Cyrus Christie both went close to breaking the deadlock, but failed to hit the target.
However, the Rams finally took the lead with a quarter of the game left as Ince was teed up by Chris Martin before the former England Under-21 international steered the ball into the bottom corner of Bond's net.
Despite playing with 10 men, Reading tried to find a late equaliser, but efforts from Garath McCleary, Hal Robson-Kanu and Chris Gunter failed to test Carson as County held on to leapfrog the Royals in the table.
Chris O'Keefe
