Sunderland slumped to yet another controversial defeat in a second straight match as Reading emerged 2-1 victors in their Premiership clash on Saturday.

A drab first half sprung to life in the closing stages of the match as Reading took the lead through Ivar Ingimarsson in the 69th minute. However the Black Cats refused to give up the game and came up with an equalizer 8 minutes from the final whistle when Michael Chopra converted his chance from the penalty spot. But it was the hosts who took all three points after the linesman ruled that Stephen Hunt's shot had crossed the line, even though the replays were inconclusive.

Following a string of disappointing performances, Sunderland started the match on the defensive, intent of closing out the hosts before going on attacks of their own. However the move failed to bear fruit as Reading managed to create a number of chances in the first half, though they were unable to hit the back of the net.

Dave Kitson and Bobby Convey had decent chances early on in the game, but the best chance of the half fell to Hunt when he rose high to head the ball towards the target but Craig Gordon was alert to the danger and pulled off a brilliant save to deny the goal.

The hosts finally took the lead in the 69th minute when Ingimarsson latched on to a rebound, after Gordon had done well to stop Ibrahima Sonko's header, before slotting the ball into the net. However it was not long before Sunderland got back into the match with referee awarding the visitors a penalty in the 82nd minute after Kenwyne Jones was fouled inside the area by Sonko and Chopra made no mistake from the spot.

With time running out, it looked as if both the teams will have to share the points before the controversial moment came in the injury time when Hunt's brilliant volley looked to have been saved on the line by Gordon, but the linesman awarded the goal to Reading, sparking celebrations in the stands.