Aston Villa saw off Reading 2-1 at the Madejski Stadium to bring their dream of Champions League football nearer to reality and push their opponents closer towards relegation from the Barclays Premier League.
Goals from Ashley Young and substitute Marlon Harewood were enough to take the points against a side who have now lost a club-record eight successive league fixtures and appear incapable of saving themselves.
Villa could have triumphed by a much larger margin, especially as Gareth Barry missed a first-half penalty.
Nicky Shorey's 90th-minute free-kick - Reading's first goal in 540 minutes of play - had no bearing on the game.
Reading chairman John Madejski had called for the fans to turn the stadium into a "cauldron of optimism" but although James Harper planted an early shot into Scott Carson's midriff, it quickly became apparent Villa would simply not allow any release from the paralysis that has gripped the home side's season.
Young's fourth goal of the campaign may have taken 45 minutes to arrive but when it did, it was merely the inevitable result of his side's superiority and the home players' lack of confidence.
And Harewood's strike meant Shorey's late effort was merely a consolation.
In Sunday's other game, Benni McCarthy forced beleaguered Bolton to pay the penalty at Ewood Park with two ice-cool spot-kicks as Blackburn won an incident-packed Lancashire derby 4-1.
Gary Cahill's needless 65th-minute foul on David Dunn in the visitors' box turned the game on its head, paving the way for Rovers to reignite their European hopes and leaving Gary Megson's men deep in relegation trouble.
Bolton had burst out at the start of the second period and Kevin Davies' 49th-minute equaliser - after McCarthy's opening penalty - sparked a prolonged period of dominance which was only broken by Cahill's clumsy challenge.
Five minutes later the match was effectively over when David Bentley nodded home Rovers' third at the far post, with Morten Gamst Pedersen giving an overly one-sided look to the scoreline with an injury-time fourth.
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