Reading face Swansea in Championship play-off final after 3-0 victory over Cardiff

npower Championship: Michael Chopra, Cardiff City v Reading

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Reading reached the Championship play-off final after beating Cardiff City 3-0 in the Welsh capital thanks to two goals from Shane Long and a third from Jobi McAnuff.

The Royals managed to put to bed any possibility of an all-Welsh play-off final as they will meet Swansea at Wembley on May 30.

Cardiff had the majority of the early chances as they looked to force the issue on their home ground, with Michael Chopra, Jay Bothroyd and Dekel Keinan all going close inside the first 25 minutes.

However, it was the visitors who ended up taking the lead in the 27th minute after Steven Bywater in the Cardiff goal attempted to clear the ball, but it was a poor effort as Long cleverly lobbed the ball into the goal from 25 yards out.

Reading doubled their lead 15 minutes later from the penalty spot after Keinan pulled Matthew Mills back on an Ian Harte corner, and although by the letter of the law it was a foul, the decision was a harsh one.

However, Long made no mistake from the resulting spot-kick, putting his effort to Bywater’s left, sending the shot-stopper the wrong way.

The second half was dominated for the most part by the home side as they searched for a lifeline in the tie, however they couldn’t break Reading down and the visitors looked relatively comfortable whilst on the back-foot, causing their hosts a lot of problems on the counter-attack.

Reading sealed the match for good in the 84th minute through McAnuff as the Jamaican international danced through the Cardiff defence, beating Kevin McNaughton easily before waltzing into the penalty area and firing past Bywater.

It was a very impressive goal from the England-born midfielder and it all but ended Cardiff’s slim chances of getting into the play-off final.

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