Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's side exited the competition at the penultimate hurdle following three goals in 12 minutes in the second half for the visitors to the Kirkby Academy.

Neither team were able to assert full dominance on the game in the opening exchanges. Reading did enjoy several early set-pieces, though were unable to work any chances of note to really threaten the Reds goal.

Josh Sonni-Lambie and Rio Ngumoha both saw shots blocked from inside the box by way of response, with the latter producing a clever mazy run into the area.

The contest carried on without major incident until Sonni-Lambie burst forward to the edge of the box and drilled a low shot wide of the mark.

To close out the half, however, the Royals went the closest of the two teams via Emmanuel Osho. The forward picked up a loose ball outside the area following a corner kick, gathering to curl a shot onto the Liverpool crossbar, with goalkeeper Kornel Misciur claiming the rebound.

Ngumoha did respond to the chance minutes ahead of the interval, taking a short-corner routine on himself to break into the area and flash a shot over the bar from a tight angle.

Following the change of ends, Reading asserted themselves on the tie and just after the hour mark netted three quickfire goals to take full control.

George Booth first scored with a deflected strike inside the box, with Liverpool unable to clear the ball from the final third.

The visitors then doubled their advantage, Osho sweeping an effort high into the net from an Ashqar Ahmed ball in from the right flank, before Kiyan Coke-Miles-Smith won and then converted a penalty.

Liverpool attempted a response in the closing stages, but were unable to get themselves on the scoresheet as they fell to defeat.

Misciur, Cisse, Ewing, Pinnington, Nallo (Enahoro-Marcus, 86), Upton, Bradshaw (O'Connor, 79), Ayman, Sonni-Lambie, Ahmed (Onanuga, 67), Ngumoha.

Hall, Lonmeni.

The Reds return to U18 Premier League North action on Saturday afternoon (March 8). Bridge-Wilkinson's outfit will host Nottingham Forest at the Academy in a 12pm GMT kick-off.

Este artículo ha sido traducido automáticamente y, si bien se han hecho todos los esfuerzos razonables para garantizar la precisión, es posible que se produzcan algunos errores en la traducción. Consulte la versión original en inglés del artículo para conocer la versión oficial.