January addition deserved fairytale Reading FC ending but it was a nightmare | OneFootball

Zurab Khizanishvili was brilliant for much of his stay in Berkshire, but endured a disastrous end to his time at the club.

Reading signed Zurab Khizanishvili on loan from Blackburn Rovers in January 2010, following a difficult run of league games.

At the time of his arrival, the Royals had gone winless in their last six league games, which wasn't exactly ideal for a club that were flirting with relegation from the Championship.

Khizanishvili, however, looked to be a good signing.

He came to the Select Car Leasing Stadium as the captain of Georgia - and with plenty of domestic experience under his belt too - appearing in the UEFA Cup and Champions League.

The Berkshire side were crying out for additions in their quest to drag themselves away from the drop zone and into a more respectable position - and the arrivals of the Georgian and Andy Griffin proved to be extremely important in the end.

Zurab Khizanishvili's loan spells at Reading FC

The centre-back was an unused substitute during his first two games at the Berkshire side, with Ivar Ingimarsson and Matt Mills starting ahead of him.

He then made his debut against Doncaster Rovers, coming on as a substitute at the Keepmoat Stadium to see out a 2-1 win in Yorkshire, before he made some starts.

Making a real impact alongside Ingimarsson, and then Mills, he made a very good impression and played his part in securing a top-half finish for his loan club, with the Royals managing to limit the amount of goals they were conceding.

And it was a popular decision when he was brought back to the SCL Stadium for another loan spell for the 2010/11 season.

He spent a chunk of the campaign on the bench, and rarely appeared during the winter period.

But he stayed focused and was able to make an impact during the final months of the campaign, with his contributions helping the club to secure a place in the play-offs.

During that period, it was his excellent footwork that allowed the Royals to score one of their four goals at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest.

His highlight probably came away at Cardiff City in the play-off semi-final second leg though.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas may have had chances to score against the Royals in the Welsh capital that night, but Mills and Khizanishvili were fairly solid that evening, with their defensive resilience giving the Berkshire outfit the platform to go on and book their place at Wembley.

Goals from Shane Long (x2) and Jobi McAnuff guided the club to the English capital, where they faced Swansea City.

Zurab Khizanishvili endured nightmare end to Reading FC stay

The Royals should have had their tails up after their 3-0 away win at Cardiff in the second leg.

But they were 3-0 down at half-time against Swansea in the final.

Khizanishvili's poor challenge against Nathan Dyer in the box gave Phil Dowd little choice but to award a penalty, which allowed Scott Sinclair to make it 1-0 from the spot.

Sinclair then made it 2-0 not too long after, tapping the ball home. Although the Georgian wasn't directly at fault for that goal, he was sucked in and left the defence a little exposed.

Stephen Dobbie added the third when Khizanishvili's flick landed at his feet - and it looked as though the game was done and dusted at that point.

However, two goals from corners within a matter of minutes made it 3-2, and only the post and an excellent block from Garry Monk prevented the Royals from equalising.

The Berkshire side's momentum was eventually killed when Swansea were awarded another penalty - and Sinclair grabbed his hat-trick to seal the Swans' place in the Premier League.

That day was a disaster for Khizanishvili, who deserved a better ending to his stay in Berkshire, having been such a valuable asset for the club.