Shaun Goater was forced to take a sit on the bench when Sunderland entertained his Reading side in Division One on Saturday night.

And the Bermudian was only brought into the fray once the match was effectively lost with the Black Cats 2-0 up by half-time at the Stadium of Light.

The 33-year-old, who has netted four goals since arriving at the Madejski Stadium in the summer, had been laid low by a stomach bug which forced him to miss the League Cup victory over Oxford in midweek.

However, he was expected to be fit for the Division One clash but it seems stand-in manager Kevin Dillon had other ideas going with a 4-5-1 formation instead of the usual two up front of Goater and Nicky Forster.

Though the away side started brightly they went behind when Julio Arca put Sunderland ahead in the 28th minute. There was worse to follow four minutes later when John Oster added a second.

Dillon changed things around at the interval in the hope of salvaging something from the match, bringing on Goater for John Salako and reverting to 4-4-2. But it had little effect and Goater's only contribution of note came when he teed up Forster but his powerfully struck shot was palmed away by `keeper Mart Poom.

As a result of the defeat Reading are now tenth, having slipped three places.

Also on Saturday the Royals were handed a home tie against Third Division Huddersfield in the third round of the League Cup. Ironically, Huddersfield beat Sunderland in the previous round 4-2.