Reading slipped to a 3-2 defeat against fellow Sky Bet League One strugglers Shrewsbury in an entertaining encounter at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Three goals in the opening nine minutes provided an electric start to the contest, with Shrews going 2-0 ahead through Jordan Shipley and Tom Bayliss.

Reading swiftly replied when striker Sam Smith slotted home his eighth goal of the season and they made it 2-2 through Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan.

But Tom Bloxham regained the lead for Town just before the break, which they successfully defended throughout a largely uneventful second half.

Town made a lightning start, with Shipley superbly volleying in from a clearly pre-planned Bayliss corner move in the third minute.

Two minutes later, Bayliss cut into the area and beat home goalkeeper David Button at his near post with a crisp shot.

But Reading responded in the ninth minute, with Smith coolly clipping in past Marko Marosi from a precise Harvey Knibbs pass.

Ehibhatiomhan levelled in the 36th minute when his deflected effort looped in over Marosi for his ninth goal of the campaign, but Bloxham struck in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time with an angled 20-yard drive.

Reading dominated most of the second period but, apart from Marosi’s superb save to deny Femi Azeez from close range, Shrewsbury held on reasonably comfortably for a vital victory.