NELSON OLIVEIRA bagged a brace as Reading slumped to their third straight away defeat, going down 3-1 to Nottingham Forest.
Steve Clarke’s side made a bright start, taking the lead through the returning Matej Vydra, but Chris O’Grady quickly levelled matters.
And Portugal international Oliveira put Forest ahead just past the half hour mark with a stunning effort from outside the box before adding his second minutes after the restart.
Royals were handed a lifeline with 24 minutes to play when centre-back Jack Hobbs was shown his marching orders for two yellow cards, but the visitors failed to take advantage of their extra man, not severely testing Dorus de Vries in the Forest goal as Reading slipped to 9th in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Clarke made just one change to his side which beat Bolton Wanderers last weekend with the impressive Garath McCleary missing out due to a slight hamstring problem allowing Vydra back in to start following a recent knee complaint.
And it was Royals who created the best opportunities during a scrappy opening few minutes between the two sides with Nick Blackman’s effort from range comfortably held by de Vries.
But Clarke’s men did strike first with little under quarter of an hour on the clock, their 10th goal in the opening 15 minutes of matches this season.
Norwood wound up a shot from around 25 yards and let fly but the ball kindly ricocheted into the path of Vydra and the Czech forward composed himself before calmly tucking into the bottom corner.
The hosts responded well, immediately taking the initiative to try and put pressure on the Reading goal.
Danny Williams was forced to head away from a dangerous looking scramble in the box before O’Grady dragged an effort harmlessly wide.
But, after struggling to find his shooting boots in the opening exchanges, Brighton loanee O’Grady levelled up the contest.
Winger Ryan Mendes cut the ball across the face of goal for O’Grady to powerfully sweep towards the corner and, via a strong hand from Al-Habsi, the ball crept over the line to mark his first goal for the club.
Forest had their tails up with Reading’s defence coming under increasing threat so it was no real surprise to see the hosts turn the game on its head.
The fact it came from a Royals corner will undoubtedly frustrate Clarke as Mendes broke away from a challenge from Piazon before doing well to find Oliveira on the far side.
The Portugal international cut onto his stronger right foot to curl a superb 20-yard effort into the top corner, giving Al-Habsi no chance.
Reading created a couple of chances to pull level before an entertaining first half drew to a close, first Norwood seeing a long range free kick brilliantly clawed out of the top corner by Dorus de Vries before Danny Williams was also denied.
And things went from bad to worse just minutes after the restart. Forest took a quick throw to O’Grady on the left and he found a low cross for Oliveira to come steaming in and tap in at the back post.
It looked difficult to see a way Clarke’s men could get back in the match and the contest would have been as good as over had it not been for a crazy minute which saw the pendulum swing in Reading’s favour.
First, David Vaughan fired a low cross to Mendes at the back post but the midfielder inexplicably fluffed his lines and failed to connect with the tap in.
And as Royals broke, they were handed a lifeline when centre-back Hobbs slid in on Vydra for the second time in the contest, receiving his second yellow card and with it his marching orders.
Clarke immediately through on Ola John and Paolo Hurtado to try and salvage something from the contest with 20 minutes to play while Dougie Freedman replaced two-goal star Oliveira with defender Kelvin Wilson.
While Reading may have sensed a route back into the match, they failed to turn that into shots on target.
Norwood tried his luck from range on numerous occasions while John showed good feet to pick out Vydra but his shot was charged down.
There was further woe for Clarke as the clock ran down with captain McShane leaving the field injured to be replaced by Rowan Liburd on what was a largely forgettable afternoon for the visitors.
Reading are back in action on Thursday night at Madejski Stadium against Queens Park Rangers.
Reading: Al-Habsi; Gunter, Hector, McShane (Liburd 85), Taylor; Norwood, Williams; Blackman, Vydra, Piazon (John 69); Sa (Hurtado 69).
Subs not used: Bond, Ferdinand, Cooper, Obita.
Goals: Vydra (14), Williams (86), John (89)
Yellow cards: Hector (54)
Nottingham Forest: de Vries; Lichaj, Mills, Hobbs, Pinillos; Mendes (Mancienne 79), Lansbury, Vaughan, Osborn; O’Grady (Trotter 89), Oliveira (Wilson 69).
Subs not used: Evtimov, Williams, Grant, Blackstock.
Goals: O’Grady (20), Oliveira x2 (31,49)
Yellow cards: Hobbs x2 (42,66), Vaughan (90+6)
Red card: Hobbs (66)
Referee: Keith Hill
Attendance: 18,128 (972 away)
