Reading 2-0 Nottingham Forest: Royals cruise to three points

Reading illustrated their top-six Sky Bet Championship credentials with a comfortable 2-0 victory over struggling Nottingham Forest at the Madejski Stadium.

A strike in each half from former Forest players was enough for Reading, with Gareth McCleary scoring an early opener and defender Chris Gunter adding a rare goal in the second period.

In a scrappy contest, Forest had their chances but were frequently denied by in-form home goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

Reading gradually settled the better of the two sides, with Forest offering little threat up front, and went ahead in the 10th minute. John Swift drilled in fierce effort from 25 yards that Forest goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic could only fumble into the path of McCleary.

McCleary still had much to do but kept his head and fired a well-controlled effort back past Stojkovic.

Forest responded brightly, with a powerful free-kick from Henri Lansbury taking a deflection over the home crossbar. Striker Ben Osborn had a shot blocked by the packed Reading defence and then forced a smart save from Al Habsi at his near post.

Reading quickly regained control, with Lansbury nodding off the line from a Yann Kermorgant volley and Stojkovic superbly stopping a 25-yard piledriver from Danny Williams.

Forest upped the tempo approaching the break, with Al Habsi making a fine double save to keep out Kasami and Apostolos Vellios. The Oman international also did well to save another Kasami attempt and a thunderous 20-yarder from Eric Lichaj.

Lichaj squandered another opportunity, driving wildly wide, and it was to prove costly, when Reading extended their lead in the 62nd minute. McCleary, not for the first time, crossed from the right and right-back Gunter lashed in only his third goal - and first in the league - in more than four years at the club.

Forest never gave up and referee Andy Davies awarded them a penalty when Liam Moore fouled Lansbury in the area. But Davies changed his mind, on the advice of an assistant, and instead awarded a free-kick just outside the box, which Kasami blasted into the defensive wall and over.

Reading boss Jaap Stam:

"It's another win, which is very important. I'm very happy with the result and the work that the players put into it. We still need to improve on creating chances. We should have done a lot better in that area.

"We also gave away possession too easily, our first touch was not good enough and our passing was not accurate enough."

Nottingham Forest boss Philippe Montanier:

"We created a lot of chances and it's very tough for us.I don't think that we deserved the defeat. We lacked efficiency in the opportunities for scoring. It's important to hit the target. Perhaps the best player of the game is the Reading goalkeeper.

"But that was tough for us. I don't think we deserved to lose and I am very disappointed for my players because they gave everything."