City must have known it was Paul Ince's birthday on Friday because they gift-wrapped his side three points.
It was a chalk-and-cheese performance from an away day that will not live long in the memory. There was nothing to shout about inside a soulless stadium as Bristol City failed to replicate a showing that saw them brush aside West Brom in the week.
Devoid of attacking ideas, it was another case of here we go again when City's defence was breached just after half-time for another corner. What was equally frustrating as it came just five days after Nigel Pearson wanted to emphasise that his side can defend set pieces after successfully defending West Brom's 13 corners.
From there on out City never really gave the impression they were going to get themselves an equaliser following a snooze fest of a first half. A triple change did provide some impetus but it was to no avail.
Ince went old school by bringing on Shane Long and Andy Carroll with a throwback to a "little and large" strike partnership. The latter provided the killer blow at the death when Long hit City on the counter-attack as they pressed forward.
It was a disappointing defeat but such is the nature of the Championship, City are still just four points adrift of the play-offs. Here's the talking points with City having to get back to the drawing board.
No shots on target
That stat says it all really. Firstly, you can see why Reading have one of the best home records in the Championship.
Only Blackburn and Millwall have better records on home soil with Reading winning six of their opening nine matches. That's credit to Ince because they had a game plan to frustrate City and it worked, making it a weary watch at times.
When City had the ball they dropped back and allowed the defence and Matty James the time to pick their passes without piling on the pressure. Their wing-backs dropped deeper into a back five and as soon as that pass went forward to the strikers, their defenders were on Antoine Semenyo and Nahki Wells like a flash.
That still doesn't legislate for the complete lack of creativity going forward. Reading headed into the game with a host of central defenders out injured or suspended and even lined up with a midfielder at the back in Amadou Mbengue.
But the visitors struggled to pose any sort of a threat as Wells and Semenyo were ineffective playing alongside each other.
In a press conference after a 0-0 draw against Coventry, Pearson spoke about the partnership in which he said the duo played too far apart. It was the last we saw of them starting together for four games until West Brom when Wells returned to the starting XI.
The move paid off when Wells headed in Semenyo's strike and provided a welcome slice of evidence to suggest they can partner each other but yesterday was a step backwards. That was emphasised when Pearson made the call to take them both off just before the hour mark when making a triple sub.
Wells was frustrated to have been substituted but it was a difficult day for the striker who was forced to drop deeper to get a touch of the ball. That's evident with a map of their average positions which showed just how far apart the duo played - Dasilva being the second player furthest forward behind Semenyo.
Thanks to an OTIB user who kindly did my homework for me, they highlighted a rather worrying trend that City have been struggling to threaten the opposition's goal since the international break. After a spell of scintillating and attacking football which saw them become the highest scorers in the league, they've now managed just 13 shots on target in seven games.
As Pearson said, his strikers can't always be bang in form but when they have relied so heavily on scoring goals and often bailing out the defence, it's an understandable cause for concern.
The manager will need to find a solution and that could come in the form of opting to go back to the tried and tested Wells/Conway duo or even reunite WSM following their prolific goalscoring last season.
Although you do have to show some sympathy because the pair weren't exactly blessed with quality from wide positions...
The delivery
"There you go then, you have something to talk about," was Pearson's comment to me after I reference the lack of quality from wide positions. So here we are...
He also said: "Our own set-plays were awful and that’s from two of our best technicians who don’t deliver into the box."
The manager was not wrong. When there's such an emphasis to play with marauding wing-backs, they have to provide the quality from wide areas for the forwards.
City had 25 crosses against Reading and it's difficult to remember one that caused any sort of panic in Reading's defence. The visitors did come relatively close when Weimann broke forward from midfield into the area.
He fed Dasilva out to the left in plenty of space in the area but his looped cross to Chris Martin at the back post lacked enough pace for him to attack and provided a vital second for the defender to make a desperate challenge.
It wasn't too long after that when Pearson decided to bring him off for Cam Pring who offered something different down the left. There's no doubting Dasilva's quality from wide positions and QPR boss Michael Beale made note of it a couple of weeks ago, referencing a game plan to stop him from crossing because of his ability.
But that's what makes it so frustrating. Having the knowledge he has it in his locker to produce dangerous, teasing deliveries.
Alex Scott was also guilty of failing to beat his man at the front post from a couple of corners. City had five corners in total but none gave the likes of Zak Vyner, Rob Atkinson or Timm Klose the chance to attack them.
That's where City will miss Kane Wilson who picked up 13 assists in League Two last season, mostly down to his crossing ability. Sykes and Dasilva have two assists between them after 17 matches and that's a record that will need some scrutiny going forward.
Changes inevitable
It's fair to say Pearson was not a happy man during his post-match press conference. It didn't take much provoking for him to hit out at the lack of consistency having failed to build on their win over West Brom.
Finding consistency in the Championship is ridiculously difficult. It's one of the reasons why it's the best league in the world. Three wins on the spin can easily catapult a side in the lower mid-table mire straight into play-off contention.
There was absolutely no surprise with the team news when it came out at 2pm with Pearson opting to make no changes to his side. The only slight debate would have been whether to have started Weimann and give Williams a breather after a hectic run of fixtures.
It wasn't the case and it provided another real opportunity for some players to stake their claim in Pearson's plans going forward. That's particularly relevant to the defence with Tomas Kalas and a returning Kal Naismith ready to add competition to the backline.
Both have calf problems and although we don't know the severity of Kalas, a welcome week without any midweek fixtures will provide both with the opportunity to recuperate and get themselves in contention to take on Swansea next weekend.
Judging by Pearson's comments after the game, it seems like his patience his running thin. You do have to take into consideration that emotions can run very high after the full-time whistle.
He said: "It’s really disappointing that when naming an unchanged side because the players deserve to play again, they don’t perform. We have players who have hit one level midweek and performed miles below that. But more importantly, we were collectively short today."
Pearson also said on Robins TV: "I've reselected them and they've put themselves in a position where... we will have to change things in the future because there is a lack of consistent application."
Maybe it's all a little too soon to speculate on the changes that will be made but Naismith could come back into the fold for his leadership qualities and Cam Pring will feel he is deserving of an opportunity to make his first league start of the season. Weimann will undoubtedly return and then there's the decision to make in attack.
Semenyo's now gone eight games without a goal and hasn't been showing the blistering form we know he is capable of.
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