Reading 2 Aston Villa 0
Martin O'Neill was right to distance himself from the job as England head coach when his name was linked with the post once again this week.
On this evidence, the Aston Villa manager still has a lot of work to do in the Midlands, never mind watching for when the final knife goes in on Steve McClaren. But do not make the mistake of shifting the blame for this result on to O'Neill's shoulders.
That responsibility lay firmly with Villa's wasteful strikers, most notably Ashley Young who did everything but live up to his #9.5 million price tag.
O'Neill gave a wry smile after the game and suggested that Young would be returning to the training ground to practice his heading until he was as good as Nat Lofthouse.
Young is clearly not old enough to recognise the comparison but after this wayward display, he would do well to look up some information on the 'Lion of Vienna'. If he does, he will see that Lofthouse scored 30 goals for England and more than 250 for Bolton.
It would have been no surprise had Young left the Madejski Stadium with a hat-trick and the match-ball under his arm.
The fact that he did not has not gone un-noticed by O'Neill, who now has a three-week gap in the fixture list caused by Villa's absence from the FA Cup and Arsenal's involvement in the Carling Cup final.
And if the glint in the Villa manager's eye meant anything, then Young can expect to be put through his paces at Bodymoor Heath.
Time and again, the former Watford striker squandered chances to put Villa in control, failing to take advantage of strike partner John Carew's good work.
Carew's strength again caused problems and he was able to give Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor the freedom they needed. The plan is, though, that they put the ball in the net and that simply did not happen.
In Agbonlahor's defence, he has been asked to perform miracles in his first full Premiership season. Fatigue and injury are setting in and he was substituted, for the first time in a top-flight game this term, when he came off close to the end.
Young, however, suffered a sudden and worrying dip in form just three games into his Villa career. O'Neill will hope it was a mere blip in a contest Villa should never have lost.
"We played very well at Newcastle and had nothing to show for it and it was the same again. I am very disappointed, but I think there is something good here," said O'Neill, who did not know whether the glass was half-full or half-empty.
"We are in the results business and we have been beaten, but I have been very encouraged by the team’s performance.
"It wasn’t Ashley’s day, we'll be working on his heading. John Carew was immense. His ability to play the game is there for all to see. Since he arrived, he has given us all a lift. Shaun Maloney did very well on his debut."
If O'Neill needed any reminding that Reading do not need a host of chances to win games, they only had to look at Birmingham City's FA Cup exit to Steve Coppell's men last month. Then, the Royals had four chances and scored three times.
It was not as clinical as that this time, but Steve Sidwell showed Villa exactly why Reading are challenging for Europe and O'Neill's team have still to reach the 'magic 40-point barrier' managers so readily see as a safety margin.
Sidwell is hot property and a player who has been pursued by a number of clubs. If speculation is to be believed, then Villa are one of them. And while O'Neill refused to be led into a post-match revelation that Sidwell is a summer target, he happily admitted that Villa had been 'linked' to the player.
By that, he meant he had read in the newspapers of Villa's interest without confirming whether the stories were based in fact.
Still, O'Neill would not be doing his job if he did not know that Sidwell was out of contract this summer and yet to sign a new deal at the Madejski Stadium.
If Sidwell saw this as an audition to play for O'Neill one day, he certainly impressed. His first goal was straight out of the training pitch with Sidwell stealing in between Olof Mellberg and Gareth Barry to head home.
His second, in stoppage time, was a superb finish after an excellent one-two with Dave Kitson.
O'Neill was frustrated at the final scoreline, but he can take some comfort in the fact that Villa are creating chances and surely cannot miss as many again. He will also be encouraged by Maloney.
The #1 million signing from Celtic has had a tough season after a lengthy contract dispute at Parkhead but here he showed flashes of brilliance, including a speculative chip from 25 yards that might have made the BBC's Goal of the Month competition had goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann not parried it over the bar. Add to that a few Cristiano Ronaldo-like shimmies and you suspect there is something special to come from a player who was tipped for big things at Celtic, but was not offered a wage to match.
Mellberg summed it up after the game: "Someone will get a thrashing the way we are playing; apart from the goals, they didn't have many chances," he said.
Scorer: Sidwell (16, 90).
READING (4-4-2): Hahnemann; Murty, Bikey, Ingimarsson, Shorey: Little (Oster, 77), Harper, Sidwell, Hunt; Lita, Long (Kitson, 62). Subs: Federici, De la Cruz, Duberry.
ASTON VILLA (4-4-1-1): Sorensen: Bardsley, Mellberg, Cahill, Barry; Agbonlahor (Berger, 75), McCann, Petrov, Maloney; Young (Davis, 88); Carew. Subs: Taylor, Laursen, Ridgewell.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Co Durham).
Bookings: Reading — Harper, Bikey (fouls); Villa — Young.
Attendance: 24,122.
