Nottingham Forest 2-3 Reading: 5 Things We Learned

By Jamie Clark / November 30, 2013

Reading sit fourth in The Championship table ahead of the rest of this weekend's fixtures thanks to a thrilling 3-2 away win at Nottingham Forest. Nigel Adkins's Royals established a two-goal lead inside 15 minutes through Pavel Pogrebnyak and Kaspars Gorkss, but Forest struck either side of half time to level. Simon Cox and sub Darius Henderson brought the Reds back into the contest before Jamie Mackie rattled the post. Jordan Obita snatched victory for Reading 15 minutes from time with his first goal for the club. This absorbing second tier encounter on Friday had plenty to tell us about the division. Here are five things we learned.

5. Garath McCleary Comes Back To Haunt Forest

Former Reds favourite McCleary laid on two assists in this match giving the City Ground faithful a reminder of what they once had. Forest's player of the season from 2012 joined Reading shortly after receiving that accolade. McCleary was at his devastating best coming in from the right before squaring to Pogrebnyak for the opening Royals goal. He also teed up Obita for the winner. This means McCleary joins Ipswich left back Aaron Cresswell and Middlesbrough midfielder Grant Leadbitter as the joint leading assistant with seven.