Leroy Lita sent Reading home dreaming of Europe with a second-half double to beat Manchester City at Eastlands.

Having agreed to take charge of England's Under-21 side earlier this week, it will be little consolation to City boss Stuart Pearce that one of the men he has called on for Tuesday's encounter with Spain inflicted the damage that sent Reading above Portsmouth into the top six and with a UEFA Cup spot well within their grasp.

Lita, who has now scored nine times in as many games, should have had a hat-trick too but saw a close-range first-half effort ruled out for offside.

Although City carved out numerous chances of their own, their chronic lack of firepower once again let them down and given the transfer window is now closed, it is a good job for the Blues that the failings of others will probably prevent them being sucked into a relegation scrap.

It would be fair to assume the opening half-hour will make it into neither club's compilation of the season DVD.

Aside from a header Sylvain Distin glanced wide, the only talking point came when the line of communication between Nicky Weaver and Richard Dunne broke down as they attempted to cut out Ivar Ingimarsson's long ball.

The resulting collision would have had calamitous consequences had Lita not lost his bearings as he tried to locate the loose ball having been sandwiched in between the City duo when they collided.

As it was, Dunne hooked the ball away and Weaver, having initially carried on after treatment, was eventually forced off, handing Sweden World Cup keeper Andreas Isaksson a belated home debut.

The contest ignited thereafter, with Reading nursing a justified sense of grievance at the interval over the decision to rule out Lita's goal.

From 50 yards away, and with a goalframe directly in his line of sight, it was a major call from the far-side assistant referee to flag for the ball being out of play before Steven Hunt nodded it back - and replays did not back up his view in any way.

Barton was probably quite pleased England coach Steve McClaren was not in the crowd given his failure to convert City's best chance of the opening period.

Georgios Samaras had been his usual inconsistent self until he let fly with a low shot Marcus Hahnemann could only parry into Barton's path.

From barely 10 yards and with no defender in sight, Barton seemed certain to score, only to sidefoot a weak shot straight at Hahnemann's legs, his second worst miss of the season behind the failure to tap into an open goal at Bolton last month.

The second half began as the first had finished as the wasted chance column continued to mount at both ends.

Darius Vassell should really have found the target instead of flicking Hatem Trabelsi's near-post cross over, then Shane Long failed to get any connection at all on the pass Sidwell drove across the six-yard area.

Amid all this, the home fans were getting increasingly irritated at Samaras' efforts, the Greek striker hardly doing much to get the supporters back onside by meekly running into the Reading defence after finding himself in a good position 25 yards out.

Barton may be flavour of the month but it was Sidwell who impressed in the midfield battle. The former Arsenal man might have scored too, via a massive deflection off City substitute Dietmar Hamann.

Isaksson would certainly have been unable to do anything about it had the ball been on target when it looped off the German's back. Instead, it crashed back off the bar and City were able to scramble clear.

Although Reading were impressing, City kept carving out chances. Stephen Ireland sent Vassell through but the former England man flicked his shot against Hahnemann's legs, then Barton could only find the side-netting after collecting Steven Hunt's half clearance.

They proved to be costly mistakes as Lita eventually found the target 12 minutes from time, set up by Sidwell's superb defence-splitting pass.

The former Bristol City man was not finished either, for when John Oster provided the same kind of pass Sidwell supplied earlier, he converted his 13th of the campaign.

Teams:

Man City Weaver (Isaksson 35), Richards, Dunne, Distin,Trabelsi, Beasley, Dabo (Hamann 48), Barton, Ireland,Samaras (Sturridge 74), Vassell.

Subs Not Used: Jihai, Corradi.

Reading Hahnemann, Murty, Shorey, Bikey, Ingimarsson, Harper,Sidwell, Little (Oster 80), Hunt, Lita, Long (Kitson 75).

Subs Not Used: Federici, De la Cruz, Duberry.

Goals: Lita 79, 89.

Att: 38,676

Ref: H Webb (S Yorkshire).