Three penalties were awarded, including one in the 94th minute, as Reading recorded a 2-1 win over Ipswich Town in the Championship on Friday night.

Gareth McCleary sent the Royals into a one-goal lead late in the first period, but Town were level through Brett Pitman early in the second half. That was not the end of the drama though, as the hosts won it in the 94th minute through a Daniel Williams spot kick.

It was Ipswich that made the brighter start to proceedings and Ali Al-Habsi had to be alert to keep out a Freddie Sears effort in just the third minute of action.

Reading grew into the match, however, and had two clear opportunities inside the opening 30 minutes. The first fell to George Evans after a cross from Roy Beerens, but the midfielder headed over the crossbar.

Beerens then came close himself after lining up a strike from distance, but Bartosz Bialkowski made a smart save to keep the score goalless after an opening half-hour that lacked quality in both halves of the field.

Reading were awarded a penalty in the first-half stoppage time when Grant Ward handled, however, and McCleary stepped forward to send the home team into a 1-0 lead on the stroke of the interval.

Ipswich had a penalty of their own just four minutes into the second half when Tyler Blackett was adjudged to have pushed Pitman in the back, and the striker rose to his feet to smash the ball past Al-Habsi from the spot.

Ipswich almost scored a second four minutes later when Ward turned and struck one towards the bottom corner, but Al-Habsi was on hand to make a smart stop, before Tommy Smith hooked over the Reading crossbar in the 60th minute.

The home side just could not get out of their own half as the second period continued to develop, with Ipswich looking capable of scoring each time they broke into the final third of the field.

There was late drama though as Reading were incredibly awarded a second penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Jonas Knudsen pulled Joey Van der Berg to the deck, and Williams stepped up to win it for the hosts in spectacular circumstances.

The result has moved Reading into third position in the Championship table, while Ipswich remain 12th.