Ipswich Town 1-2 Reading: Late Mo Barrow winner leaves Tractor Boys 12 points off safety

Mo Barrow's 90th-minute winner kept Reading out of the Championship relegation zone and left bottom club Ipswich 12 points adrift of safety.

The Tractor Boys looked set for a fourth successive 1-1 draw when Gwion Edwards cancelled out Norwich loanee Nelson Oliveira's opener for Reading.

But Barrow's cool finish kept the Royals out of the bottom three above Rotherham on goal difference.

Defeat was harsh on Ipswich - who were denied by a string of superb saves from Emiliano Martinez - but they look doomed to the drop after seeing their winless run stretch to eight games.

With Ipswich boss Paul Lambert serving the second match of a two-game touchline ban for his red card against Norwich, Canaries striker Oliveira quickly deepened City's East Anglia rivals' misery.

He slotted home Garath McCleary's cross to reward Reading's early superiority, with Yakou Meite, John Swift and McCleary all flashing further chances just wide for the Royals.

But despite their perilous position, Ipswich rallied and Martinez made fine stops from Alan Judge and Jon Nolan, twice, either side of the interval.

When Edwards slammed home from close range it seemed the Tractor Boys would claim a deserved point but Barrow's late strike left them facing an almost certain drop to League One.

Ipswich boss Lambert had admitted this was a must-win game for his side but it was Reading who claimed only a second away victory in 27 attempts.

The Royals' celebrations, however, were slightly curtailed by a hamstring injury to Oliveira, whose has now scored three goals in six games since his January arrival from Carrow Road.

Ipswich manger Paul Lambert:

"We had a great chance towards the end of the first half, we go 1-0 down and I thought second half we have done everything we could to score, but their second goal is a really, really poor goal.

"Time is not on our side that's for sure, but until it is mathematically impossible you never give in.

"Your job is to try and win, it's still possible, but it's going to be really hard. We need a lot of work, but you never, ever stop giving in."

Reading boss Jose Gomes:

"It was a big game, but it was just three points. We are in the middle of the big war and the final games will decide everything, but this game did not decide anything.

"I had faith in my team, even the players showed a good team spirit the way that they fight and the chances they create to score.

"We cannot find any easy game in the Championship, but sometime the games are not beautiful. In this league all the teams can beat each other."