Leeds were left counting the cost of seven minutes of added time after Adam Le Fondre, who else? Did his usual trick of coming off the bench to score the only goal of the game.
Given Brian McDermott's local knowledge, you would have thought he'd have had a quiet word with the coach driver at how congested the roads get around the Madjeski Stadium as the late arrival of the Leeds team truncated our warm-up to around three quarters of an hour.
Typically the ex Reading boss was awarded a warm ovation by his former employers as he took his seat in the unfamiliar territory of the away dug-out. He named Tom Lees as Lee Peltier's replacement, but must have cast a knowing and envious look at the Reading bench as Adam Le Fondre, our arch tormentor here the last time the sides met on Good Friday 2012 took his usual spot amongst the subs.
Another memory from that Easter clash, as well as Reading sealing the Championship title was an broken ankle injury sustained by Jem Karacan, the London born midfielder with Turkish heritage. Karacan was again in the wars and was stretchered off in an ugly moment, however rather than being on the receiving end of a crude Michael Brown challenge on this occasion Karacan lasted just seven minutes having come off second best in an attempt to fell Ross McCormack.
Austin and Lees both had half chances to test one-time Leeds loanee Alex McCarthy, evidence of McDermott's goodwill towards us even years before his appointment sparing us any further horror show at the hands of the hapless Paul Rachubka. Varney shot hard and low then on the half hour mark Austin drilled a shot past McCarthy.
The game seemed to fizzle out and a 0-0 draw looked very much on the cards. Noel Hunt turned in a twitter cringing performance rather than one of the ones that hint at better times to come.
However arguably our most inconsistent performer so far this season has got to be Stephen Warnock? The veteran left-back gave away a free kick seven minutes into stoppage time and received a second yellow for his troubles, Warnock had barely dipped his toes into his early bath when Le Fondre, who else glanced home Drenthe's free kick.
For Brian it was a sickening blow, particularly as moments earlier Jason Pearce showed his typical lack of prowess in front of goal by squandering a gilt edged heading chance. A sneaky three points went from one point to nothing in a matter of seconds.