Fulham and Reading remain finely poised at 1-1 heading into next week's Championship playoff semi-final second leg after a tight encounter at Craven Cottage.

The visitors did well to restrict their opponents in the first half and snatched an opener through Jordan Obita, but Tom Cairney hit back soon after to level things up.

Reading, who had Paul McShane sent off 10 minutes from time, will now fancy their chances of progressing through when welcoming the Cottagers to Berkshire on Tuesday.

Cairney came close to opening the scoring from the first real attempt of the match, finding his range from 30 yards but seeing the ball skin the upright on its way over.

Some fine interplay between Floyd Ayite and Scott Malone down the left led to a big chance for Sone Aluko, who could only guide the ball wide of the target from 10 yards out.

Fulham, competing in the end-of-season playoffs for the first time in close to two decades, started to up the tempo heading into the interval, again coming close through a Malone drive.

Ayite was the next player to squander a chance with his poked effort, as Reading continued to sit back and frustrate their opponents by taking their time with each set piece.

It was the visitors who took the lead, however, with Obita setting himself and pinging the ball home via the post, seemingly giving his side the boost they required to grab a hold of things.

Yann Kermorgant belted a side-foot volley over the bar soon after and Danny Williams saw a penalty shout turned down under contact from Cairney.

Fulham, who ended the regular season with seven wins from nine, did not take too long to respond thanks to a close-range header from Cairney after Ali Al-Habsi parried the ball into his path.

A straight red shown to McShane for his challenge on Kevin McDonald left Fulham holding on, but a couple of wayward shots aside the hosts were unable to truly capitalise.