Swansea finished four points behind Norwich City (who were promoted in second place) and eight behind league winners Queens Park Rangers (QPR).

Michael Chopra came on for Cardiff's striker Craig Bellamy early in the first half who suffered a suspected hamstring strain, and after the break, Reading's Hal Robson-Kanu was replaced by Mathieu Manset, again through injury.

Shane Long put the visitors ahead midway through the first half, chipping Stephen Bywater, the Cardiff goalkeeper, from 20 yards (18 m).

Long doubled his tally with a penalty on half time after Matt Mills was fouled by Dekel Keinan, and Jobi McAnuff scored a third, to secure a 3–0 aggregate win for Reading and qualification to the play-off final.

The Welsh side's defender Neil Taylor was sent off within two minutes for a foul on Lewis McGugan but despite having to play almost the whole game with ten men, Swansea held on for a 0–0 draw.

[14] Jimmy Kébé returned to the Reading starting line-up having recovered from injury, with Shaun Cummings dropping to the bench.

Sinclair was then fouled, but the resulting free kick was struck high and wide of Adam Federici's goal by Fabio Borini.

Immediately after the restart, Dobbie made a run down the right and passed to Sinclair, whose shot went in at the far post despite Federici getting a hand on it, making the score 2–0 after 22 minutes.

Within a minute, Swansea extended their lead to 3–0 – Khizanishvili failed to deal with Dyer's cross and Dobbie side-footed the ball past Federici.

Into stoppage time, Mikele Leigertwood's shot from 22 yards was palmed down by de Vries, before Dowd brought the half to a close, with Swansea leading 3–0 at the break.

[15] During the half-time interval, Dowd sent off Reading's Jay Tabb and their assistant manager Nigel Gibbs for abuse, disallowing them from watching the second half from the dug-out.

Dobbie then struck wide with only the goalkeeper to beat before Mills scored from another McAnuff corner, reducing Reading's deficit to a single goal.

Two minutes later, Karacan's strike hit the post and Garry Monk's block prevented Hunt from finishing the rebound.

Each side made a substitution with around 15 minutes remaining, Simon Church replacing Hunt and Swansea's Mark Gower on for Britton.

[21] Swansea ended the next season in mid-table in the Premier League, in eleventh place and eleven points clear of the relegation zone.