Reading 2-1 Swansea City: Cullen effort not enough as Carroll and Ince goals sink Swans

Swansea City's winless run was extended to eight matches as they were beaten 2-1 by Reading at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Andy Carroll - who netted his first goal for the Royals against Swansea last season - drilled home from close range in the first-half. Yakou Meite made a mess of a penalty soon after as Paul Ince's outfit spurned the chance to go 2-0 up.

However, Tom Ince lashed home after the restart to double his side's advantage after a loose pass from Steven Benda. Swansea pushed and got back into the contest as Liam Cullen netted his second goal in as many matches, although they were unable to extend their tally of claiming the joint-most points from losing positions in the league this term as they suffered their eighth defeat of the campaign.

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Russell Martin made four changes to the side that started in the 3-3 draw with Coventry City, the most notable of which saw Joe Allen play from the outset for the Swans for the first time in more than three months.

Ollie Cooper, Harry Darling and Matty Sorinola were also included in the starting 11 as Joel Latibeaudiere, Kyle Naughton and Jamie Paterson dropped to the bench while Olivier Ntcham was left out of the squad altogether.

Such is the congested nature of the Championship, both sides went into the match just three points adrift of the play-off places, despite being 15th and 16th in the table.

Severe traffic delays ensured hundreds of Swans supporters did not arrive until after kick-off, although, many may well have taken relief at being stuck on the M4 given their side's slow starts of late.

In truth, those who were stuck missed precious little early on as the opening