Birmingham City 3-2 Reading: Troy Deeney double as Blues down Royals

Two-goal Birmingham City skipper Troy Deeney proved the matchwinner on a freezing cold night at St Andrew's as his early double helped beat Paul Ince's Reading.

Lucas Joao got one back on 83 minutes and Tom Ince added another four minutes into stoppage time.

But John Eustace's Blues hung on for their eighth win of the season to move seven places up to seventh in the table - above ninth-placed Reading, at the halfway mark of the Championship season.

After a minute's silence for the four young victims of the Solihull frozen lake tragedy, Blues got off to a dream start - and it owed a bit to luck.

Mamadou Loum tried to block Juninho Bacuna's low right-wing cross but it flicked up off his elevated boot, lobbed into the danger area and Deeney was alert enough to adeptly control with his thigh before hooking home with his right foot from close range.

Blues goalkeeper John Ruddy then had to make two key saves to deny Andy Yiadom and Yakou Meite before Deeney doubled Blues' lead from the penalty spot.

It came after Reading defender Naby Sarr's sliding challenge allowed Deeney to attempt an athletic vault - and he ended up falling to the ground. Whether he was angling for it or not, he quickly got back up off the floor to fire home right-footed from the spot.

It was 3-0 on 36 minutes when Amadou Mbengue made a mess of dealing with a long, seemingly harmless ball forward, allowing Chong to run in and finish with his left foot for his first goal since March.

Reading were much improved after the break, but without much reward as Deeney actually went close to a hat-trick when he fired a foot wide.

But Andy Carroll's late introduction from the bench had the desired effect for the visitors. With seven minutes left, it was the former Newcastle and England striker's header back across goal from Ince which created the chance for Joao to nod home in a scramble.

Ince then sparked a nervy few moments at the end when his low shot trickled in through a forest of legs deep into the five minutes of injury time - but Blues survived .

Who's next?

Both clubs have now played their final game before Christmas - and are also off on Boxing Day, returning to action the following night (27 December).

Reading have a home game against Swansea City (17:15 BST), while Birmingham are at Championship leaders Burnley (20;00 BST).

From the heat of Qatar... to freezing cold Brum

Less than a week ago Birmingham City's most expensive youth product Jude Bellingham was in Qatar trying to ignite England's chances of winning the World Cup.

But, within 48 hours of England's return, the 19-year-old made an appearance back in Small Heath to watch younger brother Jobe play for Blues.

The 17-year-old came on for a late appearance from the bench.

Birmingham City head coach John Eustace told BBC Sport:

"I want to dedicate that win to the four boys who passed away [in Solihull] and their loved ones.

"We weren't at our usual level of performance but, on the other side of that, we were very clinical, which we weren't at Blackpool last week.

"Troy Deeney's all-round performance was fantastic. Not just his goals. But we had to rely on John Ruddy too often in the first half to keep it to no goals.

"To get to 30 points at the halfway stage is a great group effort, but we've got to maintain those standards. It's going to be even harder in the second half of the season."

Reading manager Paul Ince told BBC Sport:

"We just made too many mistakes. And, for the first goal, we made three in one.

"You can't come to places like Birmingham on a freezing night and do that. They didn't cut us open. It was mistakes for all three goals.

"I said to them at half-time you've got to go out there and at least show some pride and win us the second half, which we did.

"I'm not disappointed with the performance. We were still the better team and could still have won the game - but it's still not good enough."