Neither side had much at stake on the final day of the Premiership. Nevertheless Blackburn were keen to claim a spot in the Intertoto Cup, which they accomplished thanks to an exciting 3-3 draw against surprise team Reading. The team from the championship showed they belonged at the top flight and narrowly missed out on a Uefa Cup place.

The game shifted between the two penalty areas with regular alacrity. Reading were handicapped by the absence of regular keeper Marcus Hahnemann who sustained an injury just after the game began on 23 minutes. Before that a nervous Reading defense let Benni McCarthy through on 21 minutes and the South African striker made them pay heavily.

Hahnemann suffered a suspected fracture of the skull when he came out to meet a cross from Morten Gamst Pedersen. However even Shabani Nonda came into the fray with the same intention and Hahnemann was replaced by substitute goalkeeper Adam Federici.

Seol Ki-Hyeon restores parity for Reading in the 36th minute with a neat header from a corner. Blackburn Rovers got ahead once again in the 56th minute thanks to a fine goal from David Bentley. Kevin Doyle again set the scores level with another great header in the 58th minute before Matt Derbyshire put the Rovers ahead in the 67 minute. However the Reading team showed great resilience and were rewarded when Gunnarsson fired in a low shot on 77 minutes.

Blackburn boss Mark Hughes was delighted with McCarthy's form and stressed the club was not looking to sell him even though rumors to this effect are floating around. "He has had a fantastic season and it could not have gone better for him," Hughes said.

Reading manger Steve Coppell was happy with the overall season although he rued the missed UEFA Cup place, "We've got to be delighted with our season - we're not in Europe but just to hit the post and come out, as it were, is a significant achievement," he added.