PAUL Clement suffered his first defeat as Reading FC boss after seeing Dave Edwards sent off in the first half at Villa Park.

Edwards picked up two yellow cards in the space of 17 minutes to leave Royals a man short for an hour of the match.

And despite holding out until the interval, Royals were pummelled in the second period as Birkir Bjarnason, Conor Hourihane and Scott Hogan scored to keep Steve Bruce's hosts in the promotion hunt.

Royals, however, are looking over their shoulders at the relegation trap door once again.

Those who thought last Friday's home win over QPR had ended fears of the drop will now be thinking twice.

Royals are far from safe yet and do not have the easiest of run-ins including a difficult home fixture against Preston this Saturday and a trip to third-placed Fulham - who beat Leeds 2-0 tonight - to come after that.

Who knows what the Championship table will look like after those fixtures, but Reading's five-point lead over the bottom three looks far from secure.

Clement made three changes from the side that beat QPR in his first match in charge last Friday.

John Swift, Chris Martin and Joey van den Berg dropped to the bench while Sam Smith, George Evans and Leandro Bacuna stepped in.

Bruce went even further with five changes from the Villa side that drew 0-0 at Hull at the weekend.

QPR's recent 3-1 win at Villa Park proved anything was possible, but Bruce's men dominated the early exchanges with Jack Grealish firing over Vito Mannone's bar from Albert Adomah's fourth-minute cross.

Then eight minutes later Bjarnason missed the target with a close-range header from a Robert Snodgrass centre when he should have done better.

Royals struggled to stem the flow of Villa attacks as Neil Taylor and Adomah both had chances.

Then came Edwards' first and perhaps harsh indiscretion as a meaty challenge on Grealish earned a first booking from Darren Bond.

Clement's men threatened with a rare attack in the 28th minute when Sone Aluko's effort was blocked by James Chester.

But two minutes later they were down to 10 men after Edwards' second yellow.

The former Wolves man needlessly lunged in on Bjarnason near the half-way line and gave Bond little choice but the reach for his pocket again.

It has not been a great week for the former Wales midfielder who gave away an injury-time penalty against QPR, only for Mannone to save the day after Yann Kermorgant had been sent off in the closing stages.

On this occasion Edwards' actions left Royals to battle on with 10 men for an hour which would always be a much tougher task.

But Villa continued to spurn good opportunities as Mannone produced an excellent stop to deny Hogan from a Snodgrass assist.

And moments later Mannone got the better of Hogan again with another impressive stop before Tiago Ilori's sharp clearance prevented Villa from scoring from the rebound.

It was a busy night for the Italian who was alert to shots from Hourihane and Snodgrass as the interval approached.

And when the visitors managed to reach half time on level terms there was hope of salvaging an unlikely point.

Royals' boss was forced to sacrifice a striker to add another body in midfield with Smith making way for Pelle Clement.

Sadly, the visitors went behind less than two minutes after the restart.

They stood off Villa for too long allowing Snodgrass to feed Bjarnason, who curled a neat first-time shot into the corner from the edge of the box.

As Bruce punched the air in delight, so Clement must have felt resigned to Reading's fate.

They were relieved to see John Terry head a Snodgrass set-piece narrowly over the bar in the 57th minute before Adomah tested Mannone with a decent effort.

The biggest challenge facing Villa would be complacency - and they were forced to wake up when Mo Barrow's powerful run was ended by a superbly-timed Terry challenge on the hour mark.

Yet normal service was soon resumed as Villa doubled their lead three minutes later.

Snodgrass was the provider with another excellent delivery which Hourihane headed home from a few yards out.

Clement replaced Evans with Liam Kelly in an effort to add fresh legs in midfield.

But the game was all over by the 71st minute after Royals gifted Aston Villa a third.

Mannone showed the other side of his game by playing around with a Kelly back-pass - only for Hogan to nick it off him and slide the ball into an empty net.

The keeper summed up Reading's week - hero one minute in a crucial victory then partial villain a troubling defeat.

But no doubt Edwards will carry the greater guilt for his first-half red card which left Clement's men with an impossible task on their hands.

After all, Mannone had made a string of fine saves before his blunder, and he was forced to make two more to prevent substitute Jonathan Kodjia and then Hourihane from adding a fourth for the hosts.

It was a sobering night for Clement. Villa enjoyed 79% possession and had 28 shots to Reading's four.

Hull's draw at leaders Wolves and Birmingham's win at Bolton has also plunged the battle for survival wide open again.

Reading remain five points above Barnsley in the last relegation spot, but the Tykes do have a game in hand.

Yet Royals also boast a superior goal difference and a few more decent results should still see Clement's side secure their Championship status.

Aston Villa: Johnstone, Elmohamady, Chester, Terry, Taylor; Snodgrass (Onomah 67), Hourihane, Bjarnason, Adomah (Kodjia 66), Grealish (Whelan 76), Hogan. Subs not used: Lansbury, Jedinak, Bunn, Grabban.

Reading FC: Mannone, Gunter (c), Blackett, Moore, Ilori, Evans (Kelly 65), Edwards, Bacuna, Aluko (Martin 73), Barrow, Smith (Clement 46). Subs not used: Jaakkola, Van den Berg, Swift, Holmes. Booked: Edwards 17, 30. Red card: Edwards 30.

Referee: Darren Bond.

Attendance: 29,223.