An under-strength Reading side survived a Burnley comeback to book a place in the FA Cup fourth round after a 3-2 victory at the Madejski Stadium.
The Royals, featuring just two players assured of a start at Everton on Sunday, had looked secure at 3-0 up but had to withstand a late Clarets' onslaught to set up an away tie at either Birmingham or Newcastle.
This was the game that had been postponed just before kick-off on Saturday because of a waterlogged pitch, meaning Burnley fans who made both journeys will have clocked up more than 1,000 miles by the time they get back to Lancashire.
The first goal was netted just before the half-hour mark by Leroy Lita.
The striker, who had suffered a broken ankle at Burnley in March last year, received the ball following a flick-on from strike partner Shane Long and, although two defenders were nearby, still managed to beat goalkeeper Brian Jensen from the edge of the box with a low drive.
It was his eighth goal of the season and his fourth in the last four games.
Reading's second in the 37th minute was even better and this time Long was the man on target with Lita the provider.
The 19-year-old Tipperary man, for so long in the shadow of fellow countryman Kevin Doyle, showed he is also a fine finisher by taking the ball past Jensen and then beating him from a seemingly impossible angle on the right of the box.
Burnley had only themselves to blame for being so far behind as they had fluffed good chances themselves when the game was scoreless.
Wade Elliott was the first culprit in the 11th minute when he failed to beat Reading's debutant goalkeeper Adam Federici with all the goal to aim at. Gifton Noel-Williams was first to the rebound but saw his shot blocked by Ivar Ingimarsson.
The second chance came in the 19th minute when Ade Akinbiyi peeled away from his marker at the back post but saw the young Australian save his powerful header.
Reading made it 3-0 10 minutes after the restart with a goal from Sam Sodje, his first for the club he joined from Brentford in the summer.
Left-back Scott Golbourne, making his first Reading start, fired in a cross from the left but goalkeeper Jensen seemed odds-on to catch comfortably, until Sodje outjumped him from five yards.
The hour-mark saw Lita replaced by Dave Kitson, the striker making his first appearance since suffering a knee injury on the opening day of the season.
Burnley needed a goal from somewhere and Akinbiyi provided it in the 70th minute, lofting the ball high over the advancing Federici with the Reading defence nowhere.
Burnley made a double substitution with Alan Mahon and Kyle Lafferty coming on and with 15 minutes remaining Reading manager Steve Coppell took off Ingimarsson to give teenage defender Alex Pearce a debut.
There was still plenty of defending to be done and Federici was the focal point.
First he made a fine diving save to keep out Akinbiyi's shot on the turn and then was behind a close-range header from Lafferty.
Burnley made their third change, replacing Elliott with Garreth O'Connor, before Federici blocked a shot from Mahon in the box.
The substitute then headed an even better opportunity over before fellow replacement O'Connor showed him how it was done in stoppage time when he capitalised on Federici's only real error of the night - a punch straight to him.
But there was no time for a third and Reading were through.
