READING FC advanced into the second round of the League Cup courtesy of Chris Gunter's second ever goal for the club.

Royals were made to work hard for the victory, with Colchester United taking Steve Clarke's side to extra-time before Reading prevailed in the 115th minute.

The winning goal came from the unlikeliest of sources as Gunter raced clear to latch onto a precise Oliver Norwood pass and finish past Elliot Parish.

It was a deserved victory for Reading, who enjoyed the better chances throughout and hit the bar via Nick Blackman in extra-time.

Despite the troubles in front of goal and an obvious lack of width, there were some positive signs for Clarke as Anton Ferdinand and Paul McShane were imperious in defence.

Andrew Taylor enjoyed a fine debut and Norwood shone in central midfield.

The Reading boss stuck with a strong side for the trip to Essex, making just four changes from the side that lost at Birmingham City.

Ali Al-Habsi, Ferdinand, Taylor and Hal Robson-Kanu came in for Jonathan Bond, Michael Hector, Jordan Obita and Aaron Tshibola.

It was a fast start by Reading and they should've took the lead in the third minute when Nick Blackman found himself one-on-one with Sam Walker, but the home keeper made a solid save.

His effort proved to be Royals' best in the first half, with Danny Williams also going close midway through the half with an ambitious outside of the foot effort that Walker again tipped wide.

Hal Robson-Kanu also sent a curling effort narrowly wide whilst Al-Habsi only had one save to make – a comfortable one at that from Richard Brindley's long-range effort.

The second-half started in a similar vein, with chances few and far between early on but a good move by the Royals nearly led to a goal in the 58th minute.

A clever ball from Robson-Kanu released Orlando Sa, he laid it back to Stephen Quinn on the edge of the box but despite having two attempts, they were both pushed away by Walker.

The Chelsea loanee was having a fine game between the sticks but he injured himself in the process and had to leave the field on a stretcher.

There was a brief stoppage in play while he departed and Royals were nearly caught cold when play restarted.

A hopeful cross into the box was spilled under no pressure from Al-Habsi but fortunately McShane was there to clear the danger.

Reading were struggling to create any chances of their own and Clarke waited until the 83rd minute to introduce Dominic Samuel and Simon Cox.

Samuel had the ball in the net within a minute of coming on but he was clearly offside and it didn't count.

Williams saw his late effort fly wide as both sides had to settle for an extra 30 minutes – which would've been the last thing wanted by both managers.

The visitors were dealt a further blow just moments into extra-time when Samuel pulled up when returning from an offside position and had to be stretchered off.

But it was Reading who had the best chance of the half as Blackman fired against the bar after being released by Cox.

The ball was bouncing and Blackman did well to get over it but he couldn't keep it down and Colchester survived.

It looked like the game was destined for penalties but up stepped Gunter to race clear and send Reading into the next round of the League Cup.

Reading: Al-Habsi; Gunter, McShane, Ferdinand, Taylor; Norwood, Williams, Quinn; Blackman, Robson-Kanu (Samuel '83) (Tshibola '94), Sa (Cox '83). Subs: Bond, Hector, Obita, Stacey.

Colchester United: Walker (Parish '60); Briggs, Edwards, Wynter, Gilbey, Moncur, Massey, Eastman, Bonne, Sembie-Ferris, Brindley. Subs: Parish, Wright, Kent, Szmodies, Vincent-Young, Ambrose, Holman.

Referee: D. Drysdale.

Attendance: 2706 (595 Reading)