READING broke their long standing winless run away at Swansea City in a goal packed Championship contest.
Swansea went in front after three minutes but Reading replied within a minute through Tom Dele-Bashiru.
Andy Carroll put the Royals in front before two goals in two minutes at the start of the second-half saw Ryan Manning level for the Swans before Danny Drinkwater restored Reading’s lead.
There were two changes from Veljko Paunovic after Tuesday’s defeat to Sheffield United as Andy Carrol came in for George Puscas to make his first start, while Tom Holmes replaced skipper Liam Moore at the back.
Reading went into the match in Wales with a horrible track record away at Swansea where they were winless in their last seven visits having not earned three points there since 2001.
Reading have conceded far too many early goals of late, and once again they made a disastrous start as Swansea took the lead after just three minutes.
A pass split through the centre-back pairing of Scott Dann and Holmes which left Jamie Paterson to take the ball past Luke Southwood and despite Andy Yiadom’s efforts to hook the ball off the line, he put the hosts in front.
But the Royals didn’t let their slow start deter them as they hit back with an immediate response through Tom Dele-Bashiru just a minute later in a manic start to proceedings.
After some build up from Alen Halilovic, Baba Rahman and John Swift, Dele-Bashiru cut back onto his right foot and lashed the ball in at the near post to net his fourth Championship goal of the season.
The next chance came for Carroll as Halilovic swung a cross onto the penalty spot but Reading’s number nine headed over the target.
Swansea had the ball in the back of the net in the 23rd minute only to be denied by the linseman’s offside flag.
The ball was sent in from the right and finished by Joel Piroe, but he had strayed offside as Reading were let off the hook.
Carroll had made an impressive impact from the bench in his previous two cameo appearances, and he made an even bigger mark on the match having been handed his first start when he put the Royals ahead after half an hour.
He brought down the ball neatly from Drinkwater’s through ball, worked room to pull the trigger and beat the keeper to score his first goal in a Reading shirt.
The Royals had to hold out to preserve their lead going into the break as the Swans turned up the heat.
Rahman stayed alert at the back post to turn a dangerous cross behind for a corner.
Matt Grimes had the final chance of the half as he struck a free-kick from the edge of the box through the wall but it was caught comfortably by Southwood.
The half started with Swansea pressure as they broke through and cut the ball back across the box but Swift tracked back excellently to punt away the danger.
The Swans came up with an equaliser just three minutes after the restart as Manning hit a sumptuous volley from the edge of the box that flew past Southwood.
But just as they had done in the first-half, Reading came up with an instant reply from kick-ff to get back in front.
Carroll got behind the defence and found Dele-Bashriru whose shot cannonned off the post but Drinkwater was on hand to fire in the rebound.
Reading continued to break through the high defensive line from Swansea as Carroll again got in behind, but this time failed to take advantage as he tried to play in a teammate instead of driving at goal.
There was more frantic goalmouth action, this time in Reading’s box as Southwood pulled off a miraculous point blank save to deny Manning before the Royals eventually thumped the ball clear.
Paunovic made his first change in the 65th minute as Halilovic was replaced by Femi Azeez.
Carroll’s superb afternoons work ended with 10 minutes left to play as Puscas took his place up top.
Reading looked for a goal to seal the game on the break as Dele-Bashiru sprinted forward and was fouled by Ethan Laird, who received a yellow card.
Swift struck the resulting free-kick sweetly but Ben Hamer got a hand to it to put it behind for a corner.
Trying to rescue an equaliser, Swansea came agonisingly close again as Manning fired in a cross but Southwood again made a vital stop before Rahman hooked the ball off the line.
But Reading managed to hold on to earn three crucial points to push them further away from the relegation zone.
The Royals host Hull City next Saturday at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
Reading: Southwood, Yiadom (c), Holmes, Dann, Rahman, Laurent, Drinkwater, Dele-Bashiru, Halilovic, Swift, Carroll
Subs: Rafael, Azeez, Tetek, Abrefa, Puscas, Ashcroft, Camara
Swansea City: Hamer, Bennett, Naughton, Williams,Laird, Smith, Grimes, Manning, Ntcham, Paterson, Piroe
Subs: Latibeaudiere, Walsh, Bidwell, Downes, Benda, Cullen, Cooper
Goals: Paterson 3’, Dele-Bashiru 4’, Carroll 30’, Manning 49’, Drinkwater 50’
