A Christiano Ronaldo double won the points for Man Utd after Reading had come back from a goal down.
Utd took the lead when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored in the 33rd minute but 5 mins later Sonko had levelled for the Royals.
Ronaldo then scored twice in the second half to put Utd 3 - 1 up.
Leroy Lita pulled one back in injury time but time ran out.
Graeme Murty suffered an injury just before Ronaldo scored his first and then Sam Sodje, on as a replacement for Murty was sent off for two tellow cards within 10 mins of entering the field of play.