Steve Clarke afforded himself a few smiles on the touchline and who could blame him? This has been a strange old season for Reading, who are one win away from an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal but have spent too long being too close to a Championship relegation battle. At least this win will go some way to easing that load. They made it hard for themselves, but they had an in-form player in Jamie Mackie who was able to get the job done. He put Reading in front in the first half and then scored a brilliant winner just moments after Chris O’Grady had levelled with a penalty – one of the only legitimate chances Brighton had all night, even if Clarke was angry about the decision. Reading frontman Jamie Mackie fires the Royals ahead against Brighton in Tuesday's Championship fixture . Mackie (centre) is congratulated by Nathaniel Chalobah and Garath McCleary after netting Reading's opener . Reading (4-1-3-2): Federici; Gunter, Hector, Cooper, Chalobah; Akpan; McLeary, Williams (Keown 92), Robson-Kanu (Pogrebnyak 76); Blackman, Mackie (Norwood 79) Subs not used: Cox, Yakubu, Andersen, Taylor . Scorer: Mackie, 24, 56 . Booked: McLeary, Pogrebnyak . Brighton (4-3-3): Stockdale; Halford, Greer, Dunk, Bennett; Ince (Best 75), Kayal, Forster-Caskey; Ledesma (Bruno 86), O'Grady, LuaLua . Subs not used: Ankergren, Calderon, Hughes, Holla, Teixeira. Scorer: O'Grady (Pen), 53 . Booked: Ince, Dunk, Bennett, Greer . Ref: Andy Haines . Attendance: 14,748 . Ratings by Riath Al-Samarrai . He said: ‘It’s embarrassing. There was almost no contact. It seems to be the standard of refereeing in this division.’ The win puts Reading 13 points off the bottom three and Clarke added: ‘It gives us a lift in the league because that is what was needed. It was a big win. It makes the gap bigger between us and the bottom three and we needed that.’ Brighton, meanwhile, have now gone five games on the road without a win and this one came against a side that had gone 344 minutes without scoring at home before Mackie netted midway through the first half. Brighton goalkeeper David Stockdale must take an element of blame. His pass out to Rohan Ince was easily cut out and after advancing unchallenged Mackie pulled the trigger from the edge of the area. By then, Jake Cooper had already seen an effort hacked off the Brighton goal-line by Jake Forster-Caskey and Hal Robson-Kanu made a spectacular hash of a chance, launching the ball into the stands when he went clean through. Mackie’s strike eased the tension and almost immediately Reading could have been two up, only for Michael Hector to balloon over the bar from six yards. Niall Keown, son of Arsenal legend Martin (right), made his senior debut for Reading against Brighton . Brighton striker Chris O'Grady scores from the penalty spot to level the scores at the Madejski Stadium . O'Grady celebrates his equaliser for the Seagulls but Brighton went onto concede just three minutes later . And Brighton? Not a chance of note in the entire first half for a side that had lost only once in six coming in. Then it got exciting. Cooper pushed Emmanuel Ledesma, who went to ground and won a 53rd-minute penalty, which Chris O’Grady converted for Brighton. Clarke fumed about the decision but it did not look overly contentious. Any animosity need not have lingered as Mackie nailed his fourth in four league games from 25 yards just three minutes later. Reading winger Hal Robson-Kanu is crowded out by Brighton duo Rohan Ince and Emmanuel Ledesma . Goalscorer O'Grady holds off the challenge of Reading midfielder McCleary during Tuesday's encounter . Chris Hughton waved on Brighton but his side found no way of turning decent possession into reasonable chances. Reading added a line of reinforcement by bringing on Niall Keown – son of Martin Keown - for his debut in stoppage time. Brighton found no way of testing him. Hughton said: ‘We are not there (safe from relegation) yet, not by a long way. In the morning I will be grateful of that nine points. ‘We have to get the formula right away from home.'
Reading are now 13 points above the Championship drop zone . Frontman Jamie Mackie scored twice to earn Royals all three points . Chris O'Grady scored for Chris Hughton's Brighton from the penalty spot . Niall Keown - son of Sportsmail columnist Martin - made Reading debut .