READING suffered a 2-1 defeat at Birmingham City on the opening day of their Championship campaign.

The Royals could so easily have had a share of the spoils, but home goalie Tomasz Kuszczak saved a last minute penalty from Orlando Sa to make sure his side won.

The Blues took the lead after 40 minutes thanks to David Cotterill free-kick which took a big deflection as it went past Jonathan Bond.

The lead was doubled two minutes after the break after Jon Toral headed in Clayton Donaldson’s cross.

The Royals hauled themselves into the game as Nick Blackman found the back of the net.

Then when Simon Cox was fouled in the box by David Davis, Reading were awarded a penalty which was saved.

Reading also felt they may well have scored another goal doing the contest after Aaron Tshibola’s shot came off the underside of the crossbar and bounced to safety.

When asked about this after the game Reading manager Steve Clarke said: “I don’t know why we do not have goal-line technology in the Championship.”

Next up for the Royals is a tricky away trip to League One Colchester United on Tuesday night in the first round of the Capital One Cup.

The Essex side drew 2-2 with Blackpool in their league opener.