Keane on target as Spurs triumph

It was his 15th strike of the season and set up a mouth-watering tie at Old Trafford a week on Sunday - and the Republic of Ireland striker is now one away from a century of goals for Spurs.

Reading almost forced extra-time when Stephen Hunt came off the bench and smacked a volley against the crossbar, but Steve Coppell's men can now focus on the league.

The clash was never going to be a 6-4 or the 2-2 in the previous matches between the clubs - there was plenty of attacking but the game missed the cutting edge of Dimitar Berbatov, who had flu.

Paul Robinson was not in the squad, though, as his wife gave birth to a boy on the eve of the game. He was unlikely to have been in the starting XI anyway after losing his place to Radek Cerny.

With Coppell's focus on the Barclays Premier League, it was a chance for him to look at his fringe players again, although he still kept five players in the starting XI from the weekend. His players clearly cared about the competition - unlike Dave Kitson, who was not in the squad - but lacked the penetration of Hunt until he came off the bench.

Berbatov had scored six goals in the previous thrillers, and both teams adopted attacking approaches again. Jermaine Jenas made an early burst after robbing Kalifa Cisse of the ball but his cross was just ahead of Keane.

Chris Gunter, making his Spurs debut, also had a dangerous cross cleared and Jermain Defoe headed over from the resulting corner after Younes Kaboul flicked on to him.

Keane grabbed the opener in the 15th minute, stabbing home from close range after Kaboul met Jenas' corner and Adam Federici tipped onto the bar.

Reading had their moments going forward, with Leroy Lita at the heart of their attacks.