Sidwell brace boosts Royals

Steve Sidwell's double in the 2-0 victory over Aston Villa earned Reading their fourth successive Barclays Premiership win to keep them on course for a European spot.

The midfielder struck his third and fourth goals of the campaign to maintain the Royals' unbeaten start to 2007 and cement their place in the top six.

Villa had enough chances to have salvaged a point but they were denied by a mixture of poor finishing and a solid display from Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann.

Reading broke the deadlock after 16 minutes. Villa failed to spot Sidwell's run from the edge of the box and he beat Thomas Sorensen with a near-post header from Stephen Hunt's corner, although it took a slight deflection off Phil Bardsley.

Reading were finding so much space down the right flank and another cross from Glen Little picked out England Under-21 striker Leroy Lita, whose powerful header was parried by Sorensen.

Villa suddenly came to life, though, and Hahnemann was forced to make two important saves in the space of 60 seconds - a tip-over from Shaun Maloney's left-footed drive and a block from John Carew's shot.

Carew then had a close-range header blocked by Andre Bikey from an inswinging Gareth Barry corner, before Ashley Young would have been disappointed not to have hit the target from 12 yards as Reading appealed in vain for offside.

Villa came close to levelling after 54 minutes when a low drive from Young took a deflection off Carew and struck a post.

Gabriel Agbonlahor seized the rebound, but Hahnemann reacted quickly to block the shot from the England Under-21 international.

Sorensen did well to deny Lita at close range, but in injury-time Sidwell exchanged passes with substitute Dave Kitson before netting his second goal.