Bolton 1 (Shorey og 64)
Reading 3 (Doyle pen 84, 89, Hunt 90)
The Royals moved up into a UEFA Cup spot as our Irish contingent earned a brilliant late victory at Bolton today.
With a little more than five minutes to go we were trailing to Nicky Shorey's unfortunate own goal, but an explosive period snatched victory.
Kevin Doyle won a penalty and converted it himself on 84, then he notched another after Shane Long broke well to release Seol.
Incredibly, there was still time for another goal as Hunt headed home from six yards, and it was an incredible way to end the game.
The introduction of Long proved to be pivotal, and his energy and vigour helped set us on our way.
Reading were second best for the vast majority of the match, and until the 84th minute it was a poor spectacle, with the Trotters losing three plays to injury.
But, it was an incredible testament to our resilience and quality as we came back to win.
Steve Coppell's men had never looked like winning, but as soon as they equalised Bolton had no answer for our incisive forward play.
Bolton (4-3-3): Jaaskelainen; Hunt (Michalik 22), Gardner, Ben Haim, Meite; Speed, Andranik, Nolan (c) (Stelios HT); Davies, Diouf (Thompson 30), Anelka
Subs: Walker, Martin
Reading (4-3-3): Hahnemann, De La Cruz (Harper 73), Shorey, Duberry, Ingimarsson (c); Gunnarsson, Sidwell, Oster (Seol 73); Hunt, Doyle, Kitson (Long 77)
Subs: Federici, Bikey
Booked: Shorey, Hunt
Referee: Mr H Webb
Attendance: 23,533
Full report
The Royals made three changes to their starting line-up, and matched Bolton's 4-3-3.
Dave Kitson was the furthest forward, with Kevin Doyle & Stephen Hunt wide of him, and John Oster in behind. Steve Sidwell took over from James Harper alongside Brynjar Gunnarsson, and Michael Duberry came in for Andre Bikey.
There were fireworks before kick off, and El Hadji-Diouf exploded into action with only two minutes gone, stealing in behind Duberry, only for Marcus Hahnemann to save at the second attempt.
Reading settled relatively nicely, but Bolton were able to create, and Kevin Davies was denied as he shot at Hahnemann.
Our only early efforts were from distance as Sidwell and Gunnarsson shot off target.
Midway through the period Nicolas Anelka tried his luck on the turn from 25 yards, and it went just a yard or so wide.
Bolton lost two players to injury before half time, with Nicky Hunt hobbling off and then Diouf being removed on a stretcher after very lengthy treatment.
Reading nearly earned immediate dividends from Diouf's withdrawal, with Doyle getting a good sight of goal but he was denied by Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Despite that action, the game became very scrappy after the two injuries.
There were 15 minutes with little to report until Andranik Teymourian forced Hahnemann into a good diving save.
There was another injury worry for Bolton right on half time as Duberry's very late tackle sent Kevin Nolan crashing. No card was shown, and the Bolton skipper hobbled off as the half time whistle blew with Sam Allardyce remonstrating to referee Howard Webb.
Second half
Nolan could not recover from the injury sustained by Duberry's challenge, and Stelios was on in his place for the restart.
The Greek almost scored within two minutes, breaking our trademark free kick offside trap, but Hahnemann was out well.
Reading had a decent penalty shout with seven minutes of the half gone as Hunt tried to close down a backpass, only to be seemingly pulled by Lubomir Michalik as he advanced.
The game finally had some life, and a goalbound Bolton shot was blocked by one of their own players before Duberry threw his body in the way of the second shot.
Hunt then had a good shooting chance from a short corner, and although he skewed badly wide it still nearly fell to Sidwell or Ivar Ingimarsson.
Reading got the benefit of a very narrow offside decision as Anelka raced clear, but the Frenchman hit the post in any event.
The former Arsenal man then proved the key as Bolton took the lead. A chipped ball went over Duberry's head to find the onrushing David Thompson. The midfielder turned it inside to Anelka, who had acres of space.
Despite having an age to pick his spot, he could only shoot off target, and the retreating Nicky Shorey was somewhat unfortunate to turn into his own net as he slid back in.
Five minutes later Anelka almost made it two, but Hahnemann saved at his near post.
With a little more than 15 minutes remaining, Steve Coppell made a double change, bringing on Seol Ki-Hyeon and James Harper as we switched to 4-4-2.
Reading were still being forced back though, and Thompson tried to chip Hahnemann but the American was more than equal to it.
The introduction of Shane Long in place of Dave Kitson gave the Royals some vigour, and he won a corner that resulted in an almighty scramble inside the six yard box, with Ingimarsson and Duberry both denied.
Just a minute later though the Royals were level as Doyle won and converted a penalty.
He showed great strength and ability to shield the ball and get in front of Abdoulaye Meite inside the box, and the big defender slid in, making no contact with the ball, and the referee pointed to the spot.
After going without a goal since January, Doyle would have been nervous stepping up, but he certainly didn't show it as he lashed it home into the roof.
Incredibly, the Royals were then two ahead. Long was again at the heart of it as he broke down the left, and his pass was just behind Seol. The Korean steadied himself and whipped in a great ball that fell to Doyle on the edge of the six yard box.
It took an absolute age to come down, but Doyle prodded home to send the away fans delirious.
Unbelievably, there was more to come. Shorey broke down the left from Hahnemann's throw, and the left back's perfect cross allowed Hunt to head home to spark more delirious celebrations.
It was an incredible game, and one that Reading never looked like winning after a rather average performance for 84 minutes.
But they showed once again that they can never be written off, and Bolton were all at sea at the end as the Royals snatched an amazing win to make a European place a distinct possibility.
