This game suddenly came to life after Robbie Keane put Tottenham in front from the penalty spot.
After Reading had restored parity Dimitar Berbatov created a couple of opportunities but it was the home side who went in ahead at the break.
Jermain Defoe came on for the remaining twenty minutes or so, but it was the home side that extended its lead before the end.
Reading had virtually full control of the second half and could have scored more, but Defoe also hit the woodwork for Spurs.
Martin Jol: "We did okay for the first part of the match and did everything we had to do - attacked them in the spaces and had a couple of chances and the penalty.
"I felt we were the better team in the first half. We were a bit sloppy but we had more quality, but then they scored the two goals.
"It was frustrating because Reading have had a bad spell, even though it was against top sides. Not many teams have won here in the last 12 months.
"We still knew if we played how we did last week and the weeks before, we would have a chance to take the three points, we needed them.
"My thinking was, with the quality we had, we should not have lost that game. People might say we have been inconsistent, but I don't think we have been - only in terms of challenging the title. We have made progress lately."
"It was disappointing because I expected us to do better. I said two months ago that we would have our disappointments and on Sunday we lacked the mentality of being strong and wanting to win like we were in Turkey and Prague."
"Putting together an unbeaten run created a degree of added expectation and that was our problem. It was the little mistakes we made that cost us."
"If we'd have won everything would have been fine - in the last eight of the Carling Cup, doing well in Europe and seventh place in the league but we threw it away. I just think we had too many players below par."
Jermaine Jenas: "We got a goal and what happened after really wasn't acceptable. I think it was the most goals we have conceded in a while."
"We've looked at it and they were three very sloppy goals that we conceded. It is not like it took moments of brilliance."
"It was a worry after beating Chelsea so well and it was a bad one for us. It was just disappointing for us because we were looking to climb the table with being on a good run of games."
Source: TottenhamHotspur.com