On this day 10 years ago, Reading took a giant step toward Premier League promotion with a 4-0 win over Barnsley at Oakwell.

Coming into the match on a nine-game unbeaten run, which included eight wins, Brian McDermott’s side were full of confidence, however they had dropped points in the midweek previously at Doncaster Rovers.

Thanks to this hot vein of form, the Royals had gone from play-off chasers to promotion chancers, with the side having risen up into second and an automatic promotion place the matchday before the trip to South Yorkshire.

The visitors dominated from the outset, forcing Tykes goalkeeper into the first save of the match after just 45 seconds, however it would remain goalless until after the break.

Within two minutes of the restart captain Jobi McAnuff swept home a cross after clever play between Jem Karacan and Jason Roberts.

Just two minutes later it was McAnuff’s time to repay the Academy graduate when his original cross was blocked high into the sky but a looping header into the box was tucked in by the future Galatasaray midfielder.

At 0-2 the Royals were cruising and Karacan doubled his tally on the 65-minute mark as he thundered in a strike from long range into the top right-hand corner, giving Steele no chance.

The rout was completed on the stroke of 90 minutes as January signing Roberts got on the end of a long pass, turned the defender, and smashed his strike past the goalkeeper at the near post.

After confirming a ninth win in 10 matches, the side would be brought crashing back to Earth with a 3-1 defeat to Peterborough United three days later, but the Berkshire outfit would not taste defeat again until the final day, by which point the title and promotion had been wrapped up.

Reading Chronicle:

Above: Jobi McAnuff, after leaving Reading in 2014 (credit: PA Wire/PA Images/ Nick Potts

 

In the present day, Reading face the Tykes at Oakwell after the international break, but the side are fighting at the wrong end of the table a decade on from this comfortable victory.