Swindon Town well beaten by Reading in the EFL Trophy

The Royals dominated the first half and were two goals to the good by the break and Harvey Knibbs provided two tidy finishes from close range.

Knibbs completed his hat-trick and killed the game early in the second half when he calmly rolled a penalty into the back of the net before Paul Mukairu and Harlee Dean added gloss in stoppage time.

Arsenal Under-21's victory against Exeter City means that Swindon are out of the EFL Trophy at the group stage.

George McEachran and Tyrese Shade were the only players to keep their place following the 1-0 defeat to Bradford City on Saturday. Defender Finn Adams and striker Miles Obodo were both handed their first professional starts in a very youthful-looking Town line-up.

Finn Adams made his first start for Swindon Town (Image: Callum Knowles)

Reading had a chance almost immediately after a long ball caught out the Swindon back line, Mukairu nipped in behind and shrugged off Sonny Hart, before pulling his shot wide of the far post.

Inside three minutes the Royals had another sight of goal as Andy Yiadom got forwards from right-back and delivered a cross to the unmarked Jayden Wareham. The striker brought the ball down and slammed a shot low, but wide of the upright.

It was an onslaught from the hosts as Caylan Vickers showed magical close control to find space and play Paul Mukairu into the box. The winger attempted to finish low across Lewis Ward, but the goalkeeper made a strong save.

After 19 minutes, Reading made the inevitable breakthrough as a ball was swung into the box, but no players in blue and white ran for it. Finn Adams misjudged his clearance and it came straight to Harvey Knibbs, who finished beyond Ward.

Tyrese Shade had Swindon's first shot after 30 minutes (Image: Callum Knowles)

Swindon had their first shot of the evening after half an hour when George McEachran found Tyrese Shade down the left. He cut inside and was allowed space to try and curl a shot toward the far corner, but he did not get enough whip on it and it went wide.

Some fantastic inter-play between Vickers, Mukairu, and Tivonge Rushesha got the latter into space of the edge of the area, he looked to blast a ball into the far corner, but it whistled just wide.

Shortly before half-time, Harrison Minturn was caught by Vickers trying to dribble out from the back. Reading quickly found Wareham in the centre, he turned on the edge of the box and looked to shoot, but Ward got his body behind the ball and made the save.

Swindon ended the game with six academy players on the pitch (Image: Callum Knowles)

In first-half stoppage time, the hosts doubled their advantage as Nesta  curled a low ball into the near post, Knibbs did well to utilise the power in the cross to lift the ball over Ward and into the back of the net.

At the break, Reading would have felt they could have been even further ahead after they dominated almost the entirety of the first 45 minutes.

Right after the restart, it got worse for Swindon as Brooklyn Genesini’s poorly-timed challenge on Wareham gave the hosts a spot kick. Knibbs stepped up and sent Ward the wrong way to complete his hat-trick.

George Alston came on at the break (Image: Callum Knowles)

A quick Swindon counter got McEachran into space down the right and he played in a low ball that Obodo could not quite get on the end of. Reading could only half-clear and George Alston eventually shot wide from the edge of the area.

At 3-0, the game was won for Reading and after Knibbs was substituted ten minutes into the second half, the match lost its tempo. The Royals looked to play keep ball and generally not exert themselves too much, with Swindon trying their best but unable to gain a real foothold.

Paul Mukairu and substitute Femi Azezz exchanged passes to get Reading into a dangerous position on the edge of the box. Mukairu looked to curl a shot into the bottom corner but failed to get enough power behind his effort and Ward got down to his left and made the stop.

Swindon created precious few chances in the game (Image: Callum Knowles)

In second-half stoppage time Reading made it four when Mukairu nodded home from a yard out after a free-kick came back off the post and Dean added insult to injury two minutes later with another header.

RFC starting XI: Boyce-Clarke, Mola, Holmes, Knibbs, Mukairu, Yiadom, Guinness-Walker, Wareham, Craig, Rushesha, Vickers.

RFC substitutes: Button, Dean, Azeez, Ehibhatiomhan, Wing, Stickland, Carson.

STFC starting XI: L. Ward, McEachran, Genesini, Uwakwe, Kinsella, Dworzak, Shade, Minturn, Hart, Obodo, Adams.

STFC: substitutes: Evans, Fox, Keyes, Hubbard, Gray, Alston, Hutt.