Sunderland made light of a worrying injury to Ellis Simms as they blew Reading away at the Madejski Stadium. The Black Cats, who already face at least six weeks without top scorer Ross Stewart, saw Simms - their only remaining senior striker - limp out of the action before half-time against the Royals, and if he is injured for any length of time it will be a major concern for boss Tony Mowbray.
But despite that setback, Patrick Roberts scored twice in as many minutes before half-time to set Sunderland on their way to victory. And 20 minutes from time, Jack Clarke finished a brilliant team move to ensure their was no way back for the home side.
It was an excellent away performance from Sunderland who fully deserved their win, and it lifted them up to sixth place in the Championship table. Mowbray made one change to the side that started the defeat at Middlesbrough, with defender Aji Alese making his first league start for the club in place of Dennis Cirkin, who missed out with a hamstring injury.
