Shaun Goater took just six minutes to get back on the goal trail for Reading in their FA Cup third round tie against Preston at the weekend.

Goater, who has been sidelined by a knee injury and subsequent operation to correct the problem, leapt highest to head home Scott Murray's free-kick at Deepdale to give his side a 1-0 lead.

However, in what was a strange match, just two minutes later Preston pulled level when Brian O'Neil's shot deflected off Adie Williams.

Then an uncharacteristic error by Michael Jackson, slicing an attempted clearance into his own net, put Reading back in front.

It was all evens when Ricardo Fuller headed in David Healy's cross just after the half-hour. Murray's deep chip again put Reading in the lead, bouncing off Claude Davis before Fuller staged an action replay, grabbing his second goal with a first-half injury-time header.

Reading's assistant manager Kevin Dillon was very disappointed not to have booked a fourth-round place.

“We sat back and gave the ball away,” he said. “We passed it to Preston and they punished us. Ricardo Fuller is a big player and he was outstanding.

“I have never seen a game like it before. They were strange goals, all of them. I thought it was going to be 5-4.

“We have not scored from a set-piece for a while, so it was pleasing to do that.

“We would have preferred to finish it. The league is more important than the cup. The replay will be a difficult game I am sure.”

Preston manager, Craig Brown described the first-half as “bizarre”.

“I don't recall having been involved in a first half like that,” he said.

“We scored five goals, two of which were for the opposition, one of them an own goal and the other unfortunate.

“We are usually solid in games. Teams have come and caught us from behind a couple of times, so it proves the determination is there and the spirit for us.

“It is the nature of going behind that is worrying. The manner of our conceding goals was quite unusual for us.

“It took a save at the end from Jonathan Gould to get us a replay which is disappointing.”