Level at the break, Reading scored seven unanswered goals in the second half to secure a convincing victory with Bianca Bragg, Fran Kirby and Melissa Fletcher all grabbing a brace.
"That was the first time I have seen them actually replicate what they are doing in training in a game situation," said Ludlow. "It was great, but we're not going to get carried away.
"Every single one of the players out there, whether they started or whether they came on, did exactly what we asked them to do and put a great shift in for the team."
The other big winners over the weekend were Liverpool Ladies, who beat Durham 7-1 on their own patch. Natasha Dowie, Katie Zelem and Gemma Davidson all got on the scoresheet twice, but manager Matt Beard insisted his side should have had more goals.
"We haven’t score many goals this year so we had to be disciplined in our performance," said Beard. "We did okay in the first half but we should have had more goals.
"We looked at something different in terms of our formation, we worked on it all week in training and I think we were finding our feet in the first half. But everyone settled better after the break and we played a lot better."
Elsewhere, Arsenal Ladies secured local bragging rights with a 3-0 victory over Chelsea courtesy of a Kelly Smith brace and a third from Shinobu Ohno.
Everton saw off Doncaster Rovers Belles with a professional display and a 3-1 victory and Manchester City also beat Sunderland Ladies 2-0, with England Women's striker Toni Duggan marking her return from injury with a goal following Steph Houghton’s superb free-kick.
Yeovil Town were rarely troubled in a 2-0 victory at Oxford United and Stevie Lamb struck a late winner for Millwall Lionnesses as they came from behind to beat Watford 2-1.
And FA WSL 1 leaders Birmingham City were brought down to earth by Notts County at Solihull Moors, where Jess Clark and Rachel Corsie notched late on in a smash-and-grab win to delight boss Rick Passmoor.
"We have come here and worked our socks off to stay in the game at times, but the sign of a good team is to grind results out," said Passmoor.
"This Continental Cup is something that everyone should aim for and we are no exception to that and we came across a good Birmingham team, so to come away with a 2-0 victory we are delighted."
