Birmingham 1 (Forssell 4)
Reading 1 (Hunt 51 (pen))

The Royals took a point at Birmingham today thanks to Stephen Hunt's second half penalty.

Overall, a draw was probably fair.

Birmingham took an early lead through Mikael Forssell, who prodded home at the second attempt after a corner.

We had to cope with an injury blow when Brynjar Gunnarsson hobbled off on 25 minutes with a knee injury.

Hunt won a penalty five minutes after the break, and slotted home himself.

Either team could have won it after that, with City hitting the bar twice in a minute, first through Gary McSheffrey, then Ibrahima Sonko putting in a great clearance to get it off the line and away via the woodwork.

Marcus Hahnemann pulled off a good save to deny Cameron Jerome, and in the last few minutes it was Reading who were on top.

Shane Long had a cracking chance but tried an ambitious volley, then the impressive Hunt put just wide in injury time.

A point was probably a better result for Reading than Birmingham, and neither team will be too despondent with performance or scoreline.

Birmingham: Taylor; Kelly, Sadler, Ridgewell (c), Schmitz; Johnson, Muamba, McSheffrey, Larsson; Forssell (O'Connor 75), Jerome
Subs: Doyle, Jaidi, Parnaby, De Ridder
Booked: Johnson (booked 39), Larsson (foul 63)

Reading: Hahnemann; Murty (c), Shorey, Ingimarsson; Sonko; Gunnarsson (Cisse 28), Harper, Hunt, Convey (Long 84); Doyle, Kitson
Subs: Federici, BIkey, Lita
Booked: Murty (foul 38)

Ref: L Probert

Attendance: 27,300

First half
Reading broke immediately forward from the off, with Kevin Doyle getting in down the right. He tried to find a colleague, but his pass was not quite right and got cut out for a corner.

From the resulting set piece, a City defender stood on the ball in the box and it so nearly broke for Doyle, only to be hacked away at the last.

City went ahead on four minutes though, Reading's backline breached disappointingly.

A Gary McSheffrey corner from the right was flicked on to Mikael Forssell at the back post. The Finn went for goal, and it was half-stopped by Nicky Shorey on the line, only to bounce back off the striker and in.

Alex McLeish's team then worked up a head of steam, with Ibrahima Sonko putting in one brilliant tackle to deny the onrushing Cameron Jerome.

With 25 minutes gone, reading suffered a blow with Brynjar Gunnarsson going off with a knee injury. The Icelander looked in a lot of pain, and after hobbling to the sidelines he was taken away on a stretcher.

It was very unfortunate on our midfield man, with the injury coming after he made a brilliant tackle to stop a Birmingam break. Kalifa Cisse was on his place.

Reading had plenty of ball, but couldn't create much. Down the other end, our defence was a little stretched at times.

Sonko's misplaced clearance gave Forssell a sight of goal on 40, but it was straight at Marcus Hahnemann's legs. The rebound came to Damien Johnson, but his effort was saved down low.

Then Reading had their best chance of the half, Dave Kitson playing in James Harper, but Maik Taylor was out well to deny him as he bore down on goal.

If Harper had been able to spot him, Cisse would have been allowed a tap-in had the ball been rolled square.

Second half
Five minutes after the break, Reading were level. A pass from Kitson was wayward, and Mat Sadler had the seemingly easy task of passing back to the keeper.

His attempt was woefully short though, and Stephen Hunt was pressing very well. He got there before Taylor, was clearly tripped by the keeper; the spot kick duly awarded.

Hunt took it himself, smacked it low into the middle of the goal for 1-1.

City came forward quickly looking for a response, and Jerome put a decent chance over.

Then Hahnemann had to backtrack quickly a moment later, tipping over as Sonko headed toward his own goal.

Just before the hour Hahnemann made a good save, pushing away Jerome's close range header.

The American followed it up with a more routine stop from Sebastian Larsson's 25-yard free kick.

With 72 gone, the Royals thanked Sonko and the woodwork (twice!) for keeping the scores level.

McSheffrey's 25-yard free kick smacked the crossbar, then came out to Larsson. His header was cleared off the line by Sonko, the ball smacking onto the bar, down onto the line and then away to safety.

Down the other end, Cisse had a low shot saved comfortably.

Sonko then had a chance from Harper's corner, but couldn't keep it down.

Bobby Convey had a chance when played onside, but never had it convincingly under control and was crowded out.

With less than 10 minutes to go, Birmingham caused a panic in our box, with Larsson's backheel very nearly giving Jerome a great chance, but it just ran away from him.

In the final few minutes, it was Reading who were pressing for a winner.

Hunt did very well down the left, and found sub Shane Long in space in the box. The striker had time, but tried the acrobatic volley, miscuing badly, wasting a great chance.

Then Hunt himself had a good chance in injury time, racing on to Kitson's low cross, but putting it wide.

Overall it was a pretty fair result, with both teams having chances. The second half especially was quite open, but in the end the sides had to settle for a point apiece.