Town’s 62-year stay in the top two divisions looks to be over after a 2-1 defeat to Reading saw the gap to safety extend to 12 points plus goal difference with only 11 to play. Nelson Oliveira’s 19th-minute opener gave the Royals a half-time lead before sub Gwion Edwards gave the Blues hope on 83 but Modou Barrow claimed the visitors’ second away win of the season and their first since September in the final minute.

James Collins and Teddy Bishop returned to the Town line-up with Jonas Knudsen suspended and Will Keane injured.

Collins, who had been out for five games with a hamstring problem, returned to the Blues’ defence for Knudsen with manager Paul Lambert, who was serving the second game of his two-match touchline ban, sticking with a three-man backline.

Trevoh Chalobah and Jon Nolan were in deeper midfield roles with Alan Judge and Bishop, who missed the draw at Wigan last Saturday as he had been ill earlier in the week, starting ahead of them behind lone striker Collin Quaner.

Reading fielded the same team which drew 1-1 at home to fellow strugglers Rotherham a week ago.

There was a late change of referee with Geoff Eltringham from County Durham in charge rather than Darren England who was initially slated to cover the fixture.

On 12 Tyler Blackett was yellow-carded for handball then a minute later, much to the delight of the home fans, be-masked on-loan Norwich striker Oliveira joined him in the book for an obvious dive after Bartosz Bialkowski had pulled out of a challenge in the area on the byline as the ball went out of play.

In the 15th minute Jon Nolan sent Quaner away down the right after a Reading attack had broken down. The German was breaking towards goal when the linesman’s flag was raised.

Town, watched by a crowd of 23,009, looked to be getting up a head of steam but in the 19th minute they went behind. Garath McCleary was sent away behind the Blues’ backline on the left and cut the ball back to Oliveira, who had held his run, and the Portuguese frontman had little problem in finding the net.

Olivera, already booked, celebrated in front of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand and was subsequently spoken to by referee Eltringham but wasn’t shown a further card.

The Royals weren’t far from a second in the 26th minute when one-time Blues trialist John Swift curled a shot wide from distance on the left.

On 32 Swift hit a low shot from the edge of the box which gave Bialkowski no problem, then a minute later Meite’s overhead kick was too close to the Town keeper to trouble him.

Town were seeing a fair amount of the ball but without being able to create a serious chance. On 36 Judge volleyed wide from 25 yards, then a minute later Royals skipper Liam Moore was booked for pulling down Quaner as the striker broke away in the Reading half.

There was a lucky escape for the Blues in the 38th minute when McCleary was sent away down the left into the space behind wing-back James Bree and to the right of skipper Luke Chambers but rather fortunately shot across the face and wide.

The Blues, who had struggled to settle into their system at both ends of the field, were forced into a substitution a minute later when Collins, who had been out for five games prior to the match and who had suffered a heavy late challenge earlier in the match, was replaced by Toto Nsiala.

Reading keeper Emiliano Martinez saved low from Judge on 42, then two minutes later the Blues should have levelled with their best move of the game.

Quaner did well to take down Kenlock’s long ball forward after a Town freekick had been cleared, then burst into the area on the right before cutting across to Bishop, who moved it on to Nolan to his left, but the former Shrewsbury man’s shot was somehow kept out by Martinez.

Town just about bundled a Reading corner from the left wide seconds before referee Eltringham ended two minutes of additional time.

It had been a struttering first-half performance from the Blues who never hit the level of their display prior to the red card at Wigan, although while still having one or two decent moments.

Nolan’s late chance was the best of them and the midfielder will feel he really should have been celebrating his third goal of the season.

Reading had looked the more dangerous side having created the better chances with Town not always appearing comfortable with their system, particularly at the back.

Town, desperately needing to win the fixture with half-time scorelines elsewhere also going against them, made a double change at the break with Cole Skuse and Edwards replacing Chalobah and Bree as the Blues moved to a four-man backline with Pennington at right-back.

The formation change was little surprise given the problems Town had had with their first-half system.

The Blues began to look more of a threat, Quaner made a strong run across the edge of the box but failed to find Judge with his pass, then on 55 the Irishman was sent away on the left by a superb Nsiala ball and struck a shot which Martinez saved.

The rebound bounced out to the former Brentford man who appeared to be manhandled out of the way as he looked to get in a second shot but referee Eltringham waved away Town’s protests.

Pantomime villain Oliveira departed in the 58th minute having pulled a hamstring, Nsiala having picked up an unfortunate yellow card with the linesman seeing him as the cause of the Reading striker’s fall rather than his injury. Oliveira was replaced by Modou Barrow.

Town continued to press, Skuse shooting just over on the hour mark, then Judge just getting crowded out as he chased a ball down the middle. On 65 Nolan was booked for a late challenge on Matt Miazga.

In the 68th minute, soon after Bishop had unsuccessfully claimed a penalty as he broke into the area on the left, the Blues went close to a fortunate equaliser when Andy Yiadom inadvertently diverted an Edwards cross from the right towards his own goal but Martinez clawed it away from his line. Kenlock sought to get on to the rebound but the ball was bundled behind.

On 74 Judge whipped over a freekick from the right which Bishop flicked on and Martinez saved ahead of Nsiala, who was breaking in at the far post.

The Blues had found openings harder to come by as the game entered its final 10 minutes but on 83 they levelled. After a ball into the box had been half-cleared to the edge of the box, Skuse looped it back in, Quaner flicked wide and Edwards slammed home from close range.

The Welshman’s fifth goal of the season gave the Blues, both on the field and off it, renewed hope going into the final minutes.

However, any momentum from the goal was temporarily nullified as Reading won a number of freekicks with players going down requiring treatment, Edwards picking up a yellow card for one of the transgressions.

Quaner won a freekick to the left of goal after he was felled following a strong break forward on 88 but Judge’s curling effort flew over.

But in the final minute of scheduled time, just prior to the fourth official showing a board indicating six additional minutes, Reading regained the lead.

Meite got the better of Nsiala just inside the Town half and fed Barrow, who beat Chambers as he broke into the area on the left and slipped the ball past the advancing Bialkowski. The Reading players celebrated wildly with their fans, a number of them leaping the hoarding to join them in the stand.

Town looked for what was now an unlikely comeback in injury time with Nsiala pressed forward as an additional frontman and they went close to levelling again twice in quick succession.

First Martinez, who made a number of crucial saves during the game, brilliantly tipped over Edwards’s strike from the edge of the box, then Chambers headed wide from a few feet out after Nsiala had flicked on when the skipper will feel he should have scored.

Deep in injury time Quaner nodded wide at the near post but referee Eltringham’s whistle brought the game to a close moments later with Town having lost another of their must-win home games, something which has been all too common this season.

After manager Lambert made a bold double change at half-time and switched his system, the Blues were on the front foot for much of the half but with the final ball lacking quality all too often, while Martinez in the Reading goal made a number of vital saves when chances did come.

Edwards’s equaliser gave the Blues hope of grabbing a late win but in the end Reading caught them with a sucker punch - the second time in two games Town had to claim three points which was harsh on Town who probably deserved a point from the match.

But even that wouldn’t have been enough for the Blues with Rotherham beating Blackburn 3-2 at the New York Stadium.

The gap to safety - and indeed to third bottom - is now 12 points plus goal difference with 11 matches left to play and is surely insurmountable, particularly with the Blues having a tough run-in, starting with next week’s visits to West Brom and Bristol City.

Town: Bialkowski, Pennington, Collins (Nsiala 40), Chambers (c), Bree (Edwards 46), Chalobah (Skuse 46), Kenlock, Nolan, Judge, Bishop, Quaner. Unused: Gerken, Jackson, Downes, Dozzell.

Reading: Martinez, Yiadom, Miazga, Moore, Blackett, Ejaria (Loader 89), Baker, Meite, Swift, McCleary (Harriott 80), Oliveira (Barrow 58). Unused: Walker, Gunter, O’Shea, McShane. Referee: Geoff Eltringham (County Durham). Att: 23,009 (Reading 1,495).

Photo: TWTD

happybeingblue added 18:42 - Mar 2 First half tactics dreadful, would rather see Jackson play,Quaner doesn't look like scoring ever or at least play 2 up front so when balls actually drop in the box we may score,where was bishop playing first half very odd ,Collins needs to hang his boots up,Kenlock was woeful hes starting to play like spence ,blind back passes switching off players waltzing past him ,not sure he's one for the future tbh ,why the hell didn't he start with Edwards, we had zero width or threat until he came on ,all rather tragic and questions need to be asked of lambert after that for me .on a positive great support which deserves a helluva lot better than the current slide into lge 1

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bluemay77 added 18:46 - Mar 2 Saddest day of my life even though I knew we were done for ages ago!!!!
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RegencyBlue added 18:48 - Mar 2 Evans cannot or will not fund this club to the level needed. Eleven years of relentless decline under his stewardship has brought us to this. He should sell up and before I get the inevitable who will buy us argument other clubs have managed to find new owners. He will have to write off the debt but giving the club away will save him money from day one.
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ChrisFelix added 18:50 - Mar 2 It's incredible the team selection & even more the substitutions. I have watched Chambers for several seasons & only find him acceptable when playing alongside a superior defender such as Berra. You win games by scoring goals so why does the bloke who scored goals to get Accrington promoted not get a game. Sorry but I feel tonight that we should have stuck with Hurst & maybe it was the proper blokes who saw him off !!!

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oldelsworthyfan added 18:59 - Mar 2 Chambers loses us yet another match! Having 'Captain' Chambers in the heart of defence spells disaster. With no real goalscorers, keeping clean sheets is our only hope because Chambers will usually give away at least one goal. Please Mr Lambert, don't give him any more game time. Ever!
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Chondzoresk added 19:08 - Mar 2 Just got home after sitting in traffic for ages....my thoughts...first half we were proper awful. Nothing happening really. Quarner, caught offside three times. No end product. No one providing any product. Second half better. Query substitutions. Reading were only made to look like Barcelona by our performance. Speaking of which I talked to a couple of Reading fans who were cock sure that they would win. They were also plastic and dull fans. I hope they go down. PL, you have limited time to get things in place for next season. Think some other youngsters need blooding. Preferably as subs in up coming games. Nothing to lose now. ITID.

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BlueandTruesince82 added 19:17 - Mar 2 Can we have players who know its 90 mins plus injury time next season please? Not 89 mins 90 plus mins. Thank you
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CornishMariner added 19:26 - Mar 2 This has been a long time coming. Without Bialkowski at his best we would been down two years ago. If we sell/offload ten of the mediocre players to get a decent striker it will be good business in the summer. We simply have too many players that are OK but very very few that are consistently 7/10.
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blue86 added 19:27 - Mar 2 well that is that then! lots of things have obviously gone wrong this season, but selling mcgoldrick, garner and waghorn was always gonna bite us on the bum. and at the game today that is exactly what was missing! a striker who CAN score. I know lambert hasn't exactly pulled up trees, but I think we should defo stick with him imo. with a full pre season and his own players, without desperate loans at the last minute, hopefully we can bounce back from league one. because lets face it that is where we are going, but I think we will bounce back. Marcus Evans has alot to answer for aswell, and he needs to back lambert and sort ticket prices out for good not just here and there, and that includes lowering season tickets too. sad times, but will always support the town, just hope we don't end up like Coventry. coyb

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blueboy1981 added 19:27 - Mar 2 Well super optimists - Where did I predict we would be some months back ? - League I - we are there, make no mistake. A typical example today, yet again, of why we are there next season, we deserve nothing better. We have a sad naivety about so much of how we play, and concede goals so late on in matches. Paul Lambert - I like you, but at some point talking the talk, has to change to walk the walk - only time will tell on that.... !!! Very concerned today at the formation, and tactics, first half today - we were a team that needed three points from the start - Didn't we ?? Second half much better, and had we hit them from the start with that formation - I feel we could have done the job, but we totally wasted 45+ minutes of game time, not for the first time either. We are what we are - not even good enough for lower Championship. Credit to the crowd today - fantastic attendance.

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Suffolkboy added 19:32 - Mar 2 SO so sad to finally come to terms with the almost inevitable thoughts of relegation ! January was a terrible time to have to set about reconstruction ,and those brought in may have the right qualities but not the levels of fitness ,and experience together to bring us results without a near miracle – which hasn't occurred ! Lady Luck appears to have deserted us too, with many goals simply not scored and injuries continuing to pile up ! BUT we sold too many players of talent and ability ,and failed to replace goal scorers . Goals win games ,and provide a platform for the accumulation of points : we seem incapable of getting the ball into the net : AND as a consequence the focus is almost solely on any defensive gaps / errors / mistakes ! Final judgements are thus a little clouded ! Now PL and ME must openly declare their intentions for the games and season ahead : which players need to be shipped out , for whatever reason , ought to be already identified and on the market soon . Let's all try to be positive ,and be helped by a plan we can and WILL support ! COYB

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Kirbmeister added 19:42 - Mar 2 Blueboy - you called it in the summer and you were spot on. We haven't always agreed but I'm with you 100% this season. It's a long way back from here.
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RobsonWark added 19:42 - Mar 2 therein61 "Chambers is the second his mate the premiership class no/8 is worst" Chambers is the one letting the opposition team score the goals every game therin61.
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davidsc1971 added 19:45 - Mar 2 A Town fan since the 70s and whilst it's been a series of ups and downs since, I've never been so grumpy as I am tonight. Truly fed up. It's very likely we'll be playing Lincoln City next season FFS. A very sad day but let's face it, we're not good enough for this division and today proved it. Onwards and upwards though, hopefully Netflix will make a film out of us and we'll find some rich Sheik to pump in the cash we'll need to turn this all around. Maybe, just maybe, a spell in League One will prove to be the making of us. Evans out, we won't need you in League One. Right, off to get pissed....

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blueboy1981 added 19:48 - Mar 2 ....... let's blame Evans again shall we ?? - and be pathetic. Evans wasn't out there today - he didn't decide to sit back from the off today with the lone runner up front, he didn't make the mistake that led to conceding late on again. What was out there today, was a wrong decision from the Manage in terms of starting formation (could easily have thought 'you know who' was back again) , and far too much NAIVETY in our general play. But let's blame Evans and be pathetic. Reminder to those who need it - CURRENTLY without him, we have NO CLUB. Sobering thought ? - well it should be.

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RobsonWark added 19:48 - Mar 2 oldelsworthyfan It winds me up soooooooooooooo much why our managers can't see how crap Chambers is!Is it just cos he puts his arm around the managers like he did Paul Hurst ?He then slagged him off when he was sacked. Get him out of my club.
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westernblue added 19:53 - Mar 2 Herfie - after an especiacially bad day for us all, with few plus points, your post has brought back some perspective, and in my case a smile ... Now the half-time air was sweet perfume Though lambert'd played a defensive tune We all got up to dance Oh, but we never got the chance ... Next season will be better (surely?)
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Wooly74 added 19:53 - Mar 2 The usual crap on here.... Why are we only playing one up front??? Simple, that's all we have that is fit, Jackson simply isn't good enough for this level! Chambers was poor!!! Who else are we going to play, other than get Woolverden back from Swindon? That's it, I'm done with supporting this team! True fans never give up supporting their team! Evans Out! Yes and then administration for sure with debts over £80 million! Lambert is no better than Hurst! Managed at the highest level and succeeded! Yes, we are down, but that was case from pretty much the kick off in August, Waghorn, Garner, McGoldrick, Celina, Webster = ALL our goals gone, no proven replacements and now that Freddie and Keane are injured, it's definitely it. I will support my beloved Ipswich what ever League they play in and at what ever performance level. I will keep my season ticket and stand proudly where my Father stood before me (sadly having past away in November last year) and sing my heart out week in and week out. I just hope there are others there with me... People who succeed are ones that never give up.

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alfromcol added 19:54 - Mar 2 Could be worse, we could be in the 3rd Division South, where I saw us promoted from all those years ago. It's been a fun and enjoyable ride and trophies on the way, Sir Bobby, Kevin B, John W, Mick M and many more. I'm older now, but I'd like to see us again promoted from the 3rd tier of English football and who knows what that might bring?? Lambert has done it before, why not again? Those blaming Lambert should take time out to consider that, despite the ticket offer, possibly no other manager with such a poor record could get 23,000 into the ground today.? COYB, cheer up my grandson, better times are ahead x

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Wooly74 added 19:58 - Mar 2 Alfromcol, my hat 🎩 off to you Sir, fantastic post....
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RobsonWark added 20:02 - Mar 2 please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, please. please, get rid of CHAMBERS!!!

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herfie added 20:13 - Mar 2 Westernblue - for sure: It'll be getting better all the time. (Couldn't get much worse!) Hopefully out of this fire of despair, a Phoenix will arise. Certainly in my 50-odd years this is without doubt the worst - or cursed - season I can recall. Even taking account of the John Duncan era. The magnitude of work to be done to get this club right, from top to bottom, is immense. Not wishing to add further gloom, but unless the right decisions and funding levels are got right in the summer, then avoiding further decline is by no means a given. Am I confident..........🧻

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RobsonWark added 20:18 - Mar 2 herfie it won't get any better with Calamity Captain in defence!
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Dog added 20:18 - Mar 2 Blueboy - this season you have called a lot of things and been spot on. Sadly (and it doesn't bother me), i am a pathetic one, because for over two seasons i have been posting for Evans (Oyston as i call him) to quit. The debts we have accrued whilst sitting and watching his mismanagement is cruel on the common man. The ground is run down, the players are not good enough, the sponsorship is poor, Paul Hurst was a joke and the constant selling of players damaging. We are, where we are. Relegated by the beginning of March. What next??. Restricted budgets, lack of investment in the youth academy, pitches to deteriorate, ground not maintained (nothing new). Solution - walk away. Settle the debts like the sunderland owner and admit it has been a disastrous folly. Option 2, sell the club to the fans. Option 3, administration. Option 4, a new owner. I do see some plus points for Evans, but he is equivalent of a Matt Richards, Luke Chambers or Sam Parkin. Simply , consistently not good enough over his duration with the club. A very sad day, but like Blueboy, one i called on the opening day after PH car crash interview on soccer saturday. Agree with all the others and should blood the promising youngsters and bench the loanees.

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thechangingman added 20:26 - Mar 2 Just back to South Lincolnshire after the match. First half, we were pretty abysmal, second half MUCH better, but we just aren't good enough at this level. Great to see a full stadium, with a positive atmosphere. Now that we're relegated (bar some miraculous series of events...), it's time for us to get our heads around what next season holds. I expected little today, but overall I am glad to have made the journey, and I'll continue to do so next season too. It is what it is...

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