Wigan 0
Reading 0
The Royals took a point at the JJB Stadium and edged marginally closer to safety in the Barclays Premier League.
A draw was about right, and both sides had decent chances to take all three points in a close-fought match.
Wigan hit the post with an early Marcus Bent header, and also forced Marcus Hahnemann into an excellent second half save when Michael Brown's shot was deflected.
Reading's best moment came from the returning Leroy Lita when he cut in from the left and stabbed a cross/shot just a couple of feet wide of the far post.
It was a gritty, nervy and tense battle, with neither side really putting together any flowing moves. On an occasion such as this, that was never really much of a possibility.
With Bolton and Birmingham both drawing, it's pretty much 'as you were' down at the bottom, although Fulham's victory does tighten matters up somewhat.
The 1,400 Reading fans who made the journey will have been relatively happy with the outcome, and whatever happens now, it is a mathematical certainty that we will not know our fate until the final game of the season at Derby.
Reading (4-4-2): Hahnemann; Rosenior, Shorey, Duberry, Ingimarsson (c); Bikey, Harper, Doyle (Little 69), Hunt; Kitson, Lita (Long 86)
Subs: Federici, Cisse, Matejovsky
Booked: Shorey (ungentlemanly conduct 30), Hunt (foul 32), Bikey (foul 53), Duberry (foul 64)
Wigan (4-4-2): Kirkland, Melchiot (c) (Taylor 26), Kilbane, Boyce, Scharner; Brown, Palacios, Valencia, Koumas; Bent (Sibierski 64), Heskey (King 73)
Subs: Pollitt, Skoko
Booked: Taylor (foul 55), Kilbane (foul 69)
Ref: M Atkinson
Attendance: 19,043
First half
Steve Coppell made five changes to his starting eleven, bringing in Leroy Lita on his return from Charlton. Kevin Doyle played right wing as Stephen Hunt, Nicky Shorey and Michael Duberry also came into the team. Andre Bikey started in the centre of midfield.
The Latics started brightest, and Marcus Bent hit the post with a header from a corner on six minutes. A moment later Wilson Palacios tried his luck but smacked well over.
After that early flurry, the Royals settled somewhat. Chris Kirkland fumbled a Shorey free kick, and he was lucky it was not on target as he carelessly let it slip through his fingers and wide of the post.
Doyle had a couple of decent opportunites at the back post, but on both occasions he volleyed off target when he would have been better served taking a touch.
Reading were coming into it more, and James Harper broke well down the left but was unfortunate to see his cross go behind everyone as bodies rushed in.
Midway through the half we had two players booked in the space of a minute. First Shorey was cautioned in a quite incredible manner. The left back had a throw in, and in order to take it quickly he threw it onto the back of his teammate Hunt, but for some reason referee Martin Atkinson saw fit to get the book out. Soon after Hunt was booked for an aerial challenge with Palacios, and it was nothing more than a foul, but Wigan's reaction did not help his cause.
The rest of the half was a rather drab affair, punctuated by stoppages and misplaced passes. It had all the signs of a nervous battle at the foot of the table.
Second half
Like in the first period, Wigan had a couple of early attempts, first when Michael Brown had an effort tipped over, then when Emile Heskey nodded over from the resulting corner.
Our fans behind Marcus Hahnemann's goal shouted for handball against Bent, but it was completely unintentional and the frontman had his back to the ball when it hit his arm.
Just before the hour Lita was desperately close to putting us in front. He cut in superbly from the left, and turned his defender inside out. He prodded across goal, and if anyone had followed in they would have had a simple tap in. As it was, it ran across the goal and trundled just a couple of feet wide. An agonising moment.
The game was opening up, and Harper then Heskey both had shots but they were easily saved.
Wigan seemed to be going into their shells somewhat, and a Shorey free kick caused a bit of panic in their defence after Ivar Ingimarsson headed across goal.
It was certainly not one-way traffic though, and Brown's deflected effort from the edge of the are forced a very impressive save from Hahnemann.
We looked the more likely, and Glen Little came on to aid our cause as we went for the win.
The Royals were raising the tempo, and Michael Duberry looked destined to nod home from Shorey's corner, but Heskey just did enough to put him off and Kirkland saved.
We were playing the better stuff, and one brilliant move involving Harper and Little gave Dave Kitson a real chance, but Wigan managed to get a desperate block in.
That seemed to give the Latics something of a lift, and we had to defend for our lives from a right wing corner and Kitson hacked clear in a panic.
The final moments were nervy, edgy, tense and unbearably hard to watch. Shane Long came on for a last throw of the dice, and was wrongly given offside down the right as he prepared to get into a very good position.
Inside injury time, sub Marlon King broke the offside trap down the right, and forced Hahnemann into a near post save. From the corner, Liam Rosenior put in a great block to deny Brown and it was game up.
Neither side was completely happy with a draw, nor too despondent either. Reading had been the better team in the second half, but Wigan certainly had their moments as well.
