Afternoon all! Just under half an hour until what should be a cracking Championship tie between the Royals and the Seagulls. Let's get straight to the teams!

READING XI: McCarthy; Gunter, Kelly, Pearce, Morrison; Karacan, Guthrie, Williams, Drenthe; Le Fondre, Pogrebnyak

BRIGHTON XI: Kuszczak; Calderon, Greer, Upson, Ward; Crofts, Andrews, Forster-Caskey; David, LuaLua, Ulloa

It's three changes for both sides from their last games before the international break. Hosts Reading bring in Stephen Kelly, Danny Williams and Pavel Pogrebnyak for Shaun Cummings, Garath McCleary and Nick Blackman, while Brighton start with Jake Forster-Caskey, Keith Andrews and Kazenga LuaLua instead of Kemy Agustein, Rohan Ince and Will Buckley.

Click here to see the latest league table going into today's game, with Blackpool and QPR streaking away with five wins and a draw from their six games.

H2H: These two teams last met on April 10, 2012 when Reading left the South Coast with a 1-0 win that helped their push for automatic promotion that season. Match report here.

In fact, Reading have won six on the trot against the Seagulls, scoring 15 and conceding just three in those victories.

PREDICTION TIME! Just 10 minutes until the off in Berkshire so it's time for my pre-match thoughts. Both games I covered yesterday I predicted spot on so you really should take my word for it! I am expecting the home side to win and am going to plump for a 3-1 scoreline.

REFEREE WATCH! The man in charge today is Graham Scott, who dished out six yellows and one red card in his last Championship match between Bournemouth and Wigan a month ago.

Here come the two sides out of the tunnel. Reading are in their home colours of blue and white while Brighton don their away colours of all-yellow.

KICKOFF! We are underway at the Madejski!

Very little to speak of in the early stages but Brighton now have a free kick on the right wing as Le Fondre brings down Calderon.

GREAT DEFENDING! Lopez's delivery is a good one but cleared away from danger before Drenthe acrobatically clears upfield to set Le Fondre away on the break. Ward tracks back and manages to nick the ball away from the little striker, preventing him a shooting opportunity.

Reading have a free kick of their own in a good position to cross. Drenthe's ball in isn't great though and headed clear. A goal kick is awarded as referee Scott must have thought that it hit Williams but replays show that it cannoned off Calderon.

Ulloa works hard to win a free kick on the touchline. Brighton's top scorer hasn't had a sniff of goal yet, even though Brighton have had an impressive 57% of the ball away from home.

Ward is harshly penalised for tripping up Drenthe to the right of the area so Reading have a good chance to put in a good ball. Drenthe takes it himself but goes for goal from a tight angle, with Kuszczak not fooling for the winger's cheeky effort.

The limp nature of the match has translated into the stands, with very little noise coming from either set of fans.

YELLOW! First booking of the game goes to Pogrebnyak for lunging in on LuaLua, who went down really late but still gets the free kick.

CHANCE! Closest we've come to a goal as LuaLua smacks a pass out to Lopez on the right. The Spaniard half-volleys a knee-height cross back to Crofts who imaginatively stoops low to bullet a diving header inches wide of the post. Great effort.

Brighton far more threatening now as Lopez pounces on a defensive error before finding LuaLua, whose shot is deflected wide for a corner.

YELLOWS! Two more Reading players into Scott's notepad as Pearce is cautioned for persistent fouling before Drenthe is also booked for an earlier foul.

Whoa! This changes things! The Russian frontman gets a second yellow for throwing himself theatrically under very little pressure from Andrews. It's an extremely bold decision from Scott but one that will be applauded by those at the top as diving like that needs to be eradicated.

YELLOW! Scott's going to need a new pen soon if these challenges keep flying in! LuaLua is the first man in yellow to be cautioned for an ugly tackle on Karacan. Tempers rising.

This is the third-straight league game where Brighton's opponents have had a man sent off. They were able to beat Burnley but couldn't see off Millwall last time out when in a similar situation.

Goodness me! Another red is shown by Scott as the Seagulls' star man stupidly kung-fu kicks Pearce in the middle of the park with the ball bouncing between the pair.

Ulloa's straight red means that he will miss the next three games against QPR, Bolton and Ipswich (my team, *celebrates*).

Forster-Caskey is given plenty of room to drive into on the edge of the area but pulls his shot harmlessly wide. Both sides appear to be happy to stroll through to half time when they'll be told how to go about things a man light.

YELLOW! Just after three minutes of injury time is added on, yet another name goes into the book as Calderon is adjudged to have pulled back Karacan. For me, it was six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Late corner for Brighton before the interval...

CHANCE, THEN SAVE! Lopez's corner goes all the way across goal before LuaLua does a Cruyff turn to beat Williams, then crossing for Calderon who doesn't get enough on his header. The ball stays in play though and Lopez's dink is headed at goal by Greer, with McCarthy keeping the ball out under the bar with a strong hand. Either side of him and that was 0-1.

An action-packed first half then but not in a good way as referee Scott takes all the headlines for booking four players and sending off two!

Brighton's Twitter feed says: "Referee Graham Scott last took charge of a #BHAFC game at Leeds United last year, where he sent three players off."

Looking at replays of Ulloa's dismissal, it's so so stupid from the visitors' top scorer. Even if Brighton hadn't taken the lead before half time, if they'd kept a numerical advantage then they would have had a great chance of causing an upset. A moment of madness from the number 11 for going in so high.

There has only been one more shot on target than there was red cards in that first half. Will we see goals in the second 45?

READING SUBS: Adkins makes two half-time changes, with Hal Robson-Kanu taking the place of Drenthe and former Seagull Wayne Bridge replacing Steven Kelly. No subs from Garcia for Brighton.

Immediate impact from Robson-Kanu as he gets into the area before poking the ball back for Karacan whose shot is tipped wide by Kuszczak. The ball wasn't actually going in so you could say that was a poor bit of keeping.

CHANCES! Reading have flown out of the blocks and have two more chances as Bridge beats Calderon far too easily before his near-post cross is beaten out by Kuszczak. Moments later Karacan again tests the Pole with a side-foot shot that the Brighton keeper unconvincingly pushes out.

"OOOH!" go the Reading fans as Gunter's cross just beats Le Fondre, who goes down when wrestling with Upson for the ball. Nothing there and ref Scott rightly shakes his head.

CHANCE! Big opportunity for Brighton as Lopez cleverly flicks LuaLua's cross with the outside of his boot to open up a shooting opportunity from a tight angle. He should go with his left but uses the outside of his right again, slicing the shot well wide of goal.

After a strong start to the half from Reading, it's now all Brighton. The Seagulls come close again when LuaLua completely does Gunter with a step-over but can't find a teammate with his pullback. From a corner moments later Calderon has a free header but mistimes it.

BRIGHTON SUB: Garcia makes his first change that sees Ashley Barnes replace Lopez.

FANTASTIC EFFORT! Barnes leads a Brighton break and then almost finishes it off in spectacular fashion with a first-time volley from Crofts's deep cross that McCarthy keeps out.

PUSHED OUT! Again Brighton come close as Calderon shoots with his left from 20 yards. The ball zips off the surface as it's now raining in Berkshire, with McCarthy again being tested low to his left.

Attendance today at the Mad Stad is 18,306 (1,687 visiting Seagulls).

Andrews has scored some wonder goals in his time but doesn't get this 30-yard shot quite right by pulling it wide.

Bridge has been excellent down the left since coming on. He again holds off a challenge before crossing for Williams whose header doesn't trouble Kuszczak. Into the final quarter of the match we go...

YELLOW! After a flurry of first-half cards, it's taken 25 minutes for one in the second as Guthrie brings down LuaLua.

From the resulting free kick, Upson heads back across the box for Calderon who hits a high volley with good technique but can't keep it down.

The ball breaks to Williams on the edge of the area but his shot takes a slight nick off a yellow shirt that takes all the pace out of it. Easy save for Kuszczak.

GREAT SAVE! Huge moment in the match as Ward is played in down the left and crosses for Barnes who flicks at goal from inside the six-yard box. Somehow McCarthy keeps it out, perhaps with the aid of the post, and Reading survive.

CLOSE! We could be in for a frantic final 10 here! Reading now come close as Bridge's cross is met well on the half-volley by Pearce, whose low shot would have gone in had it been either side of Kuszczak.

BRIGHTON SUB: My man of the match to this point, LuaLua, is taken off for Will Buckley as Garcia goes for the win.

YELLOW! A seventh yellow card of the game for Crofts as he lunges in on Williams.

CHANCE! Forster-Caskey wins the ball back on the sideline and pulls it back for Buckley. His shot is blocked but deflected out to Ward who can only fizz a shot past the near post. Got to test the keeper there!

READING SUB: Third and final change from Adkins sees Nick Blackman come on for Karacan.

It doesn't feel like these two sides are going to take their foot off the gas and take a point. Both are going for it and a late winner wouldn't surprise me.

There's some real tired legs out there as we enter the final few moments. This really could go either way! Or, just stay as a draw.

THREE minutes added on.

One last chance for Gunter to pump it in to the box but it's well blocked. That should be that.

One of the more entertaining nil-nil draws I've seen. Both sides had chances to win it after the two red cards in the first half but couldn't take them.

If you've only just joined us and don't want to wade through all of my updates, click here to read our match report.

A point sees both sides climb in the table, with Brighton up a place to 14th while Reading jump four places and into the top half. Click here for the full table.

Thanks for joining us this afternoon. I recommend that you now head over to join Jack Prescott for updates on the only Premier League game today between Southampton and West Ham. Here's the link you need. Enjoy!