FULL-TIME REPORT: Blackburn Rovers 3 Reading 1

Early strikes from Elliott Bennett and top-scorer Danny Graham and a late effort from substitute Simeon Jackson gave supporters something to cheer about after an underwhelming campaign which will see their team finish 15th in the Championship.

Ahead of his 200th appearance for the club, captain Grant Hanley was named as Rovers’ player of the year, while his centre-back partner Shane Duffy was awarded the Peter White Memorial Trophy after his winner at Brentford was voted goal of the season.

It was always going to be difficult to top that stunning strike – and equally memorable celebration – but the two goals Lambert’s unchanged side scored within seven first-half minutes would have been in the running.

The opener came in the eighth minute. Jordi Gomez played the ball down the line to Matt Kilgallon, whose cross to the near post was controlled in an instant by Bennett.

His touch was good but his finish was even better as he lashed a left-footed volley back across Ali Al Habsi and into the bottom corner.

One became two in the 14th minute and again left-sided centre-back Kilgallon was the unlikely supplier.

He floated a perfect pass over the top of the deep Reading defence to Graham who showed superb composure to cushion a side-footed volley past Al Habsi and into the back of the net.

It was the on-loan Sunderland striker’s seventh goal since signing on loan from Sunderland in January and it moved him above Ben Marshall at the top of the club’s scoring charts.

There was a touching moment in the 17th minute when both sets of fans put their hands together to applaud Poppy-Mai Bernard, the little girl who lost her brave battle against cancer this week. She was 17 months old.

There were also periodic chants of ‘Venky’s Out’ from all four sides of the ground. Banners, bearing the same words, were brandished too, as well as one stating ‘football without fans is nothing’.

The Rovers players did not let the protests against the club’s India-based owners affect them.

Indeed, Darragh Lenihan twice went close to extending the advantage, firstly failing to turn a Matt Grimes header past Al Habsi and then blazing over the bar after he made space for himself on the edge of the box.

The Royals, who came into the game on the back of six-match winless run, were very much second best.

It came against the run of play, then, when they reduced the deficit in the 31st minute through Yann Kermorgant, whose brilliantly struck 20-yard free kick crashed down off the woodwork and, according to one of the referee’s assistants, crossed the line.

Rovers attempted to restore their two-goal lead with Duffy, Graham and Jackson seeing efforts blocked.

Jackson was one of three substitutions made by Lambert in the second half with Marshall, a player who is likely to be in demand in the summer, given a rapturous reception when he was taken off.

And the sun-kissed home faithful were on their feet again four minutes from the end of normal time when Jackson nudged the ball over the line after Hanley had headed down a Gomez corner.

That was the way it stayed but another sub, Craig Conway, nearly added a fourth as Rovers ended a run of four home games without a win.

Rovers: Steele, Duffy, Hanley, Kilgallon, Marshall (Evans 58), Lenihan, Lowe, Grimes (Conway 74), Gomez, Bennett (Jackson 69), Graham. Subs not used: Raya, Henley, Ward, Williamson.

Goals: Bennett 8, Graham 14, Jackson 86.

Reading: Al-Habsi, McCleary, Gunter, Cooper, McShane, Quinn (Evans 87), Norwood, Barrett (Dickie 46), Williams, Kermorgant (Robson-Kanu 46), Rakels. Subs not used: Bond, Kuhl, Stacey, Watson.

Goal: Kermorgant 31.

Referee: Andrew Madley.

Attendance: 13,140 (446 away).