A goal on his full Luton debut from summer signing Jordan Clark was enough to book a Carabao Cup third round meeting with Manchester United, as the Hatters put bogey team Reading away at the Madejski Stadium.
Town boss Nathan Jones rang the changes and it was one of the nine who came in from the win over Barnsley on Saturday who rewarded him the most, when Clark popped up with a brilliant header that gave home keeper Luke Southwood no chance.
Despite so many switches to the starting XI, the Hatters were soon on top and putting pressure on the Royals goal. Town were unlucky not to take the lead when a Danny Hylton header brought about a fine save early on, but on 25 minutes the decisive moment came.
Rhys Norrington-Davies’ attacking prowess saw him in an excellent position to swing a ball over to the back post, where Clark got up above his man to power a header into the far corner.
Luton could have had more either side of the break, while James Shea was relatively untroubled until late on when he was required to field a couple of tame shots that came his way.
All in all though this was a controlled display from a largely second string Luton side, one which was good enough to put to bed the demons of the 5-0 thrashing they received the last time these two sides met, and set up a mouth-watering clash with the former Premier League champions next week.
