Reading 1-0 QPR

Matchwinner Nicky Shorey is mobbed by his team-mates

Nicky Shorey's stunning free-kick saw Reading past fellow promotion-hopefuls QPR at the Madejski Stadium.

Shorey struck a superb inswinging effort from 25 yards which clipped the far post as it beat keeper Chris Day.

Dean Morgan fired wide with the Royals' best opening of the first half while Paul Furlong also went close with a header for the visitors.

But Shorey hit the winner after the break while QPR's Jamie Cureton saw red for kicking out at Steve Sidwell.

Cureton was furious that Sidwell shouted "Jack's" - footballers' code for "leave it" - to him as he was about to receive the ball in the 73rd minute.

Sidwell on the clash with Cureton:
"It is possible to say that it was cheating. It is the kind of thing that happens in a match, but after the game I was a bit disheartened that I had done it.

"Jamie is a good friend off the pitch, but what I did is something that happens all the time in football.

"I told him that if he had let it go he would have been fine, but I do feel bad about it.

"He had come back to Reading - a club that he loves - for the first time since he left in the summer of 2003, and he wanted to put in a good performance. It is a shame how it has turned out."

QPR boss Ian Holloway on launching a tirade against his team after the game:

"I was angry after the game, and I ended up making a total idiot of myself.

"I was unprofessional: I was shouting and I wasn't listening to my players, and I accept now that I got it wrong.

"Jamie should not have reacted in the way he did, although I would never have done what Sidwell did.

"The red card changed it, but I thought we had played well in the second half, and the goal came against the run of play."

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Reading: Hahnemann, Shorey, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Hughes, Little, Sidwell, Harper, Brooker, Kitson (Owusu 55), Morgan (Forster 68).
Subs Not Used: Convey, Newman, Young.

Booked: Kitson, Harper.

Goals: Shorey 64.

QPR: Day, Bignot, Shittu, Santos, Padula (Best 75), Bircham, Gallen, Rowlands (Cook 85), Miller (Ainsworth 85), Furlong, Cureton.
Subs Not Used: Edghill, Bean.

Sent Off: Cureton (73).

Booked: Rowlands, Bircham.

Att: 20,272.

Ref: R Beeby (Northamptonshire).