FA Cup giant-killers Reading claimed another Premier League scalp with a 1-0 victory over Burnley in the fourth round on Saturday.
The managerless Championship strugglers had shocked Liverpool in a third round replay at Anfield and they proved that was no fluke thanks to Gylfi Sigurdsson’s late winner at the Madejski Stadium.
Sigurdsson, who was only declared fit on the eve of the tie after recovering from a foot injury, produced a cool finish with three minutes left to stun Brian Laws’ side.
Burnley had beat Reading in last season’s Championship play-off semi-finals but it was the Royals who were the dominant force this time.
Brian McDermott, in temporary charge following the sacking of Brendan Rodgers, would have been encouraged in the early stages when Sigurdsson, who scored a penalty in second-half time added on in the 2-1 win over Liverpool, tested Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen from long-range.
Reading striker Grzegorz Rasiak should have done better than shoot tamely wide after a flowing move cut open the Clarets’ defence.
Jensen was forced into action to keep out Simon Church’s snap-shot, then Sigurdsson curled a free-kick narrowly over.
Burnley finally sparked into life when Wade Elliot found Graham Alexander and the Scotland midfielder smashed his low shot just wide.
Joey Gudjonsson went even closer when he met Chris Eagles’ cross, only for his shot to be blocked on the line.
Reading appealed in vain for a penalty when Jobi McAnuff went down under a challenge from Gudjonsson, but referee Andy D’Urso waved play on.
The hosts were indebted to Australian goalkeeper Adam Federici for keeping them in the match in the closing stages. He made a full-stretch save from Kevin McDonald and then tipped away David Edgar’s header.
After surviving those near-misses, McDermott’s men pushed forward again and Jensen tipped over a header from Matthew Mills.
Reading’s pressure was rewarded in the 87th minute when Andy Griffin’s cross picked out Sigurdsson and he pushed his shot into the bottom corner.
