Derby 0-4 Reading

Fulham occupied the third relegation spot for much of the afternoon and they looked set to go down along with Derby and Birmingham, but, at the final whistle, it was Steve Coppell's side that lost out, thanks to Danny Murphy's 76th minute winner for Fulham at Fratton Park.

A James Harper goal after 14 minutes gave the travelling support some hope that they could survive the drop. Dave Kitson laid the ball off to Harper, who took a touch and came inside on his left foot and curled his shot past Roy Carroll from just inside the box.

Derby struggled to get into the game and they found it impossible to string a couple of passes together. In contrast, Reading looked the more relaxed and Leroy Lita had more than one opportunity to extend the lead, while the Derby faithful had to wait until the 40th minute before they saw their team have their first shot at goal, when David Jones forced a fine save from Marcus Hahnemann in the Reading goal.

Two half-time Derby substitutions saw Marc Edworthy replace Mile Sterjovski and Benny Feilhaber take over from Robbie Savage in midfield.

The changes seemed to revive the flagging Derby side and they started more brightly but found themselves further behind on the hour mark when Dave Kitson tapped in from close range after being set-up by Lita, who reacted quickest to a Carroll parry and squared to Kitson.

At this stage, Reading were safe as Fulham were being held to a draw at Portsmouth.

Reading substitute Kevin Doyle put the game beyond any doubt after replacing the injured Kitson. The Irishman robbed Welsh defender Lewin Nyatanga, but his attempted cross was blocked in front of goal, but it fell nicely for him to squeeze home from three yards.

Lita completed the rout in stoppage-time, a close-range diving header making it four and, when the final whistle blew at Fratton Park that was that. Fulham had survived, leaving Reading's victory to be in vain. They join Birmingham City and Derby in the Championship next season.

TEAMS:
Derby: Carroll, Mears, Moore, Nyatanga, Lewis, Sterjovski (Edworthy 46), Savage (Feilhaber 46), Ghaly, Jones, Villa (Simmons 63), Miller.
Subs Not Used: Price, Addison.

Reading: Hahnemann, Murty, Ingimarsson, Duberry, Shorey, Oster, Harper (Bikey 86), Matejovsky (Cisse 83), Hunt, Lita, Kitson (Doyle 66).
Subs Not Used: Federici, Kebe.

Goals: Harper 15, Kitson 61, Doyle 69, Lita 90.

Referee: Mike Riley (Yorkshire).

Attendance: 33,087.