Shaun Goater's goal drought came to an end but he needed two bites of the cherry to bag his fifth strike in Reading colours in a dramatic 3-2 win over ten-man Preston on Saturday.

With Preston leading 1-0 through Ricardo Fuller in the English Division One clash at the Madjeski Stadium, Goater was handed the responsibility of taking a 39th minute penalty after Marlon Broomes fouled Nicky Forster.

Striding up, he struck the ball only to see it cannon off the post.

However, the referee, who sent Broomes off for the foul, saw something that many others did not and insisted the kick be retaken, adjudging Preston 'keeper Jonathan Gould had come off his line.

The Bermudian made no mistake the second time, despatching the ball beyond the reach of the former Celtic custodian.

Fuller had opened the scoring after collecting Michael Keane's well-weighted through-ball to beat Marcus Hahnemann with a low drive in the 20th minute.

After Goater's leveller, Graham Alexander put Preston back in front with another penalty, although he needed just one opportunity to beat Hahnemann after Steve Sidwell was penalised for a foul on Richard Cresswell.

As the match drew to a climax Reading began to crank up the pressure and Scott Murray hit the woodwork from six yards.

Their desire finally told in the 82nd minute, John Salako crossing for John Mackie to head home at the far post.

Salako was again the provider for the winning goal, the former England international this time sending over a centre from the right which Forster met to devastating effect in injury time.

Speaking about the contentious penalty, Reading manager Steve Coppell, who has now won his first two games in charge, said: "I wouldn't doubt the ref's integrity . . . the ref's got nothing to gain by keeping anyone happy and asking for a retake."

Coppell said he was pleased with the way Reading kept plugging away.

"We hit the woodwork a couple of times and at one point it looked as if it might not be our day," he said. "Even so, if we'd lost I would have been pleased in some ways because of how we fought at 2-1 down."