Derby were forced to field captain Robbie Savage in goal for nearly 50 minutes as they slumped to a heavy 4-1 defeat at Reading in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Savage took the gloves in the 41st minute when substitute Saul Deeney was red carded on his Rams debut and pulled off a stunning second-half save before being beaten.

Deeney had come on less than half an hour earlier when Stephen Bywater was injured to leave manager Nigel Clough with the unenviable necessity of sending Savage between the posts.

On-song striker Shane Long opened the scoring for the hosts but Clough's side rallied when Gilles Sunu scored his first professional goal.

Jimmy Kebe had Reading back ahead before Deeney was dismissed and Long struck the resulting penalty high over the crossbar.

Savage then entertained the crowd with a couple of fine stops before Ryan Bertrand hit a deflected shot past him to move the Royals 3-1 up and Simon Church grabbed a late fourth.

The win lifts Brian McDermott's men points four clear of the drop zone while Derby remain in trouble themselves.