READING FC made it three Championship away wins on the bounce with a gutsy 2-1 victory at Burnley.
A mixture of superb attacking qualities in the first half and plenty of grit and determination in the second saw Royals triumph at Turf Moor to move up to third place in the table.
Early goals from Nick Blackman and Lucas Piazon gave the visitors a dream start on Saturday.
The Clarets pulled one back through Tendayi Darikwa after the break and then threw the kitchen sink at Reading in the latter stages.
But Steve Clarke's men showed plenty of tenacity and resilience to hold on for the win.
The Royals boss beamed: “I’m absolutely delighted – some of our performances earlier in the season deserved a bit more,”
“We knew we had a chance to win this game which would give us a good feeling because we want to start adding the points to the performances. 
“I can’t say it was the best we have played this season, but we showed a good mixture of quality, grit and determination and came away with the three points from a very difficult place.”
Royals got off to a dream start when in-form Nick Blackman slotted home after being set up by the excellent Hal Robson-Kanu with five minutes on the lock.
It was Blackman's eighth goal in 12 appearances in all competitions this season and he is quickly establishing himself as Clarke's first-choice striker.
The visitors doubled their lead on nine minutes when Chelsea loanee Piazon scored his first goal for the club by converting a Chris Gunter cross after a sweeping counter-attack.
Royals fought hard to protect their lead and saw Jonathan Bond make a crucial save to deny Clarets attacker Michael Kightly before the break.
Burnley gave themselves a lifeline with 67 minutes gone when Tendayi Darikwa tapped in at the back post from Scott Arfield's delivery.
The Clarets went close to making it 2-2 when Sam Vokes' deflected effort was superbly saved by Bond and Oliver Norwood was forced to clear off his own line from a Michael Keane header.
But even then Royals continued to carve out chances and Blackman also had an effort cleared off the Burnley line by Darikwa before Norwood hit the bar from a free-kick.
Clarke added: “We started very quickly and on the front foot – it was two moments of quality.
“It was a great finish from Nick Blackman, and Chris Gunter made a good spot in the box to pull back for Lucas, who finished as we know he can.
“At that stage we were well in the ascendency, but we have to give credit to Burnley – they have their way of playing and they just kept pounding away at us. The second half was difficult.”
He continued: “At Bristol City we had a similar scenario but we were much more comfortable in the game, whereas this was against a team that were in the Premier League last year who were asking a lot of questions of us.
“We had to show a lot of character and different qualities to get the result. But we did it, which is very pleasing for me.” 
Reading have now won four of their last five Championship fixtures and host second-placed Middlesbrough at Madejski Stadium this Saturday (3pm ko).
Orlando Sa will be available for selection having served a three-match ban for violent conduct in the 1-0 loss to Derby County.
Clarke stated: “It has been a hectic schedule for us, and we’ll have a little breather at the start of the week. But there’s no rest in the Championship.
“Next week against Middlesbrough we’re taking on a team that everybody is saying will be up there in the mix at the end of the season. They visit us at Madejski Stadium, and it’ll be nice to get another three points.”