John Oster did well to send Nicky Shorey away down the left early on, to begin a spell of pressure which led to Reading winning the game's first corner. Doyle met Stephen Hunt's delivery at the near post but could only divert the ball wide as defenders challenged. Then James Harper was only just wide with a 20-yarder after Doyle had nodded the ball back to him to let fly.

Hunt beat the offside trap to take down an Ivar Ingimarsson pass but delayed his cross and Jussi Jaaskelainen was able to make a routine catch to relieve the early onslaught from the home side. Bolton's reply was to force a corner which Gary Speed delivered into the sixyard box which goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann was able to catch. Reading forced another corner, which saw Ibrahima Sonko rise highest but head over in the ninth minute.

An Oster cross forced Abdoulaye Meite to concede another before the Bolton defence had to hack away to stop Steve Sidwell getting on the end of Seol Ki-Hyeon's back-post knock-down of a Graeme Murty cross.

Bolton's first chance came in the 15th minute when a Kevin Davies header gave Kevin Nolan a shooting opportunity but Hahnemann was behind his low drive from the edge of the box. Hahnemann was required again to save El Hadji Diouf 's header after Nicky Hunt had supplied the cross. Diouf then required treatment after staying down following a Sonko challenge. The game had quietened down a little and although Sidwell did hit the bar after Jaaskelainen had spilled a high ball the whistle had already gone for a foul on Davies.

Reading then went close twice in the space of a couple of minutes. First Seol saw his first-time effort from a Doyle cross deflected wide off Nicky Hunt. Then Harper scuffed harmlessly wide from seven yards out after Oster had picked him out at the near post. Doyle flashed another cross inches past the head of Stephen Hunt as he arrived in the six-yard box at speed as the home side regained its earlier dominance.

A goal was coming and Doyle provided it in the 33rd minute with his eighth of the season. Shorey began the move on the left by ghosting past his man and switching play to Oster on the other flank. The former Everton man cut inside before crossing and Doyle out-jumped Hunt at the far post to head home across Jaaskelainen.

After the break Stephen Hunt got the better of Gary Speed on the left of the Bolton box but when he picked out Oster in space beyond the far post the winger's first-time effort from 10 yards was hopelessly high.

Bolton's Nolan was inches away from an equaliser at the other end, firing across goal and just wide after the ball had bounced wildly off five players as Reading struggled to cope with a corner.

Ingimarsson forced Jaaskelainen into a save after Oster had teed him up, as Reading continued to press. Bolton made a double change on the hour with Diouf and Speed replaced by Ricardo Vaz Te and Ivan Campo but it made little difference as Reading hung on to easily gain another three points and continue their recent climb.