James Harper curled home his sixth goal of the season to hand the Royals a deserved half-time lead and Dave Kitson, Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita were all on target after the break.

However, Fulham's victory at Portsmouth took their fate out of their own hands and the Royals will join Derby and Birmingham in the second tier next season.

After a bright start from Reading, it appeared only a matter of time until the deadlock would be broken and the goal duly arrived after 15 minutes.

Kitson unselfishly laid the ball off to Harper on the right edge of the area and he bent a delightful curling effort into the top-left corner.

Two minutes later the advantage should have been doubled and, not for the first time, Lita was the guilty party. Kitson was again the creator, this time crossing from the left wing for the unmarked England under-21 international in the penalty area, but his sloppy touch enabled the Rams to recover.

County were made to pay for defensive ill-discipline after Emmanuel Villa fouled Graeme Murty on the right touchline in the 60th minute. Stephen Hunt squared the resulting free-kick to Nicky Shorey on the edge of the area and Roy Carroll could only palm the left-back's shot out to his left.

Unfortunately for him Lita was lurking and he squared the ball to the unmarked Kitson at the back post to leave his strike partner with the simplest of finishes.

He was swiftly replaced by Doyle and soon the Republic of Ireland international had a goal of his own when he prodded into the bottom-left corner from close range - earning a booking for his celebrations.

Lita also grabbed the goal his efforts had deserved in stoppage time with a diving header at the near post but it was not enough to prevent his side joining County in the Championship.



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