Rovers’ 100 per cent start to the season was ended in dramatic fashion with defeat at Reading.

It was the curse of the ex-Rovers, as Royals boss Paul Ince got one over his former side, with Junior Hoilett and Lucas Joao among the Royals’ scorers.

The pair both netted in the second half, after Tom McIntyre’s header had given the hosts a deserved half time lead.

It consigned Jon Dahl Tomasson to a first defeat as Rovers head coach on what was a disappointing night from his side who fell below the standards they have set themselves at the start of the season.

They were second-best for much of the night, and while they would have cause for complaint at not being awarded a penalty with the score at 1-0, they rarely threatened a way back into the game.

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Welcome to the Championship, a league where a team sitting top of the league with a previously unblemished record can lose 3-0 at a side who shipped four in the first half at the weekend.

It was a continuation of Rovers’ dismal recent record in Berkshire, this their sixth defeat in their last seven visits to Reading.

They were deserving of nothing more, as bar as Ash Phillips shot and penalty shout early in the second half, they rarely looked like troubling the hosts.

Despite contrasting fortunes at the weekend, it was Reading, on the back of a 4-0 defeat to Rotherham United, who went with an unchanged side. Although Rovers had made it three from three, they opted to rotate in attack as Jack Vale and Tyrhys Dolan came in for Sam Gallagher and Ryan Hedges.

Reading, with their 5-3-2 shape, looked the more physical from the off and that told from a 14th minute set piece. Tom Ince’s right-wing corner was flicked goalwards by Tom McIntyre at the near post, his header squeezing underneath the crossbar to beat Thomas Kaminski and find the back of the net.

Rovers couldn’t put any patterns of play together, the gaps between their defensive and attacking fours too big, and a sluggishness in possession invited Reading on.

The home crowd were encouraged, while Rovers were rattled.

A break in play at the midway point of the half offered an animated Jon Dahl Tomasson the chance to call his players over to the touchline, but they struggled to turn the tide.

Cheap turnovers of possession, losing the physical battle a lack of conviction defending set plays all contributed to the hosts having much the better of the opening 45 minutes.

Rovers were rocking, and required goal-line clearances from Harry Pickering and Daniel Ayala, the one player to emerge with credit from the first half, to keep the Reading lead at just one.

Before the break Ayala threw himself infront of a goalbound Shane Long effort, while Tyrese Fornah flicked over another Ince delivery, as the deficit remained at just one.

There was little to cheer as an attacking force for Rovers, so much so that Tomasson made three of his allotted five changes at the break. In truth, he was left with little choice.

Bradley Dack joined Gallagher and Hedges, with Dolan and Vale as well as Sam Szmodics the three to be replaced.

Long was proving to be a nuisance for Rovers, his hold-up play and running of the channels to provide a platform at the top end of the pitch a real difference between the sides.

It may have taken 54 minutes, but Rovers finally showed signs of life.

Joe Lumley acrobatically kept out Ash Phillips’ hooked effort towards goal, before the Rovers defender was somehow not awarded a penalty from the resulting corner when unceremoniously bundled to the floor by Long.

It was a decision that Rovers would come to rue, as they soon fell 2-0 behind.

The game became more open as the hour approached, an unmarked McIntyre headed wide from a Fornah cross before Long was denied by the outstretched arm of Kaminski.

Reading didn’t have to wait long for a second however, arriving in the 61st minute. Junior Hoilett ran at Pickering before his shot from the tightest of angles had the pace to burst through his hands and find the net via the underside of the bar.

It was proving to be a difficult night for Rovers, summed up by two Brereton efforts that failed to hit the target from inside the box.

There was time for another ex-Rovers player to get in on the act, as with 10 minutes to play Lucas Joao added a third for Reading. Gallagher and Brittain were robbed of possession in the Rovers right back position, the ball pulled back for Joao whose shot on the turn nestled in the corner.

Brereton was replaced with five minutes to play, given a huge ovation by the travelling Rovers support who stayed to the end, and hoping that won’t be his last action in the club’s colours as interest in his services continues to mount.

Whatever the window brings for Brereton, there remains a real need for Rovers to strengthen, their squad looking threadbare even at such an early stage of the season.

The schedule is unrelenting, with still four more matches to come this month, starting with the difficult-looking trip to Sheffield United this weekend.

Their bid to take a consolation into that game saw substitute Edun drag a shot wide of the target, with Rovers’ inability to test a Royals defence whose confidence would have been knocked by their weekend a source of real disappointment.