Cardiff City scored two goals in the last ten minutes to snatch a 2-2 draw with Reading in a pulsating Championship contest at the Madejski Stadium.
The Royals had taken a 2-0 lead into half-time as a Callum Paterson own goal was followed by a Modou Barrow strike, but Joe Bennett's sweet left-foot strike seven minutes time was followed by a Lee Tomlin thunderbolt in the first minute of injury time, which cannoned off the crossbar and over the line, as a feisty contest, which also saw Neil Warnock sent off by referee Steve Martin, concluded in dramatic fashion.
Both sides headed into the game in decent form with Reading knowing a victory would see them move into the top-half of the table, while the visiting Bluebirds were hoping to bag their fifth consecutive league win in a row, and eat into Wolverhampton Wanderers five-point lead at the top of the table, and it was the former that shaped like they could venture out of the bottom half.
After Cardiff had started brightly, it was Reading that got on the scoresheet first, as a Liam Kelly corner heading towards the near post was inadvertently headed into his own net by Paterson, as the on-rushing Neil Etheridge came to collect the cross in the Cardiff goal.
As Reading began to get a stranglehold in the game it was Jaap Stam's side that headed into the break with a two-goal advantage, as the speedy Modou Barrow found himself 25 yards out, with Cardiff unable to clear another set-piece, and his left-foot strike went through a wall of bodies in the Cardiff area, and having taken a slight deflection off a Bluebirds leg, it found its way past Etheridge in the goal, and Reading were well on their way to a third Championship win in a row.
Cardiff flew out of the traps in the second half and Junior Hoilett must've wondered how he hadn't grabbed an early second half goal for Cardiff, as the former Blackburn Rovers midfielder found himself unmarked from a cross from Nathanial Mendez-Laing, but as Vito Mannone rushed at him in the Reading goal, Hoilett somehow managed to get a poor connection, and he headed wide.
Reading found their stride as the second half progressed, and looked fairly comfortable, much to the annoyance of Cardiff boss Warnock, who having been spoken to by the referee earlier in the game, was given his marching orders by the man in the middle as the game headed into the final 15 minutes, and the veteran manager was forced to watch the game unfold from the warmth of the changing rooms, which wouldn't have been too bad on a bitterly cold night in Reading.
However, what Warnock saw in the closing stages would've had him jumping around with delight, as Joe Bennett rifled a sublime volley past Mannone on the 83rd minute, as it was this time Reading's failure to clear their lines with a cross, but it was second half substitute Lee Tomlin, who was to complete the comeback, as the former Bristol City man netted in injury time.
With the visitors throwing everything at a solid Reading defence, a cross found Sol Bamba at the back post, and he headed the ball on to the crossbar, but the ball rebounded to Tomlin, who was eight yards out, and he sweetly struck the ball on to the crossbar, but this time the ball cannoned down, and over the line to see the mercurial talent net his first goal for the Welsh outfit.
Both sides pushed for a winner in an energy-sapping last few minutes, and it was Reading's Paul McShane that nearly won the match in the last second of the game, as he jumped highest to head the ball towards the Cardiff goal, but it was the woodwork that came to Cardiff's aid, and as the ball was cleared, the game was over, with the sides sharing the points in a tremendous match.
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