Reading 2 Luton 1: Kaz ends away-day goal woes but damage was done – report, reaction and ratings

It’s a tough task, watching Town play away these days and after their now customary Championship defeat to Reading the best you could say was at least they ended a long-running goal drought. 

Substitute Kazenga LuaLua’s long-ranger at the death was never going to change the result, but it stopped the clock at eight hours and 39 minutes without a goal on Town’s travels. 

That looked very far from possible in one of the Hatters’ most abject first half performances of a tortuously dreary series of them away from Luton. The Hatters did not even muster a shot in the first half at the Madejski Stadium.

If Hatters fans had been allowed in the soulless bowl, they’d have found even cheering a pass hard to come by, as there were so few successfully completed from one Luton player to another. 

Reading weren’t much better, but they didn’t have to be and when the Tom McIntyre rattled in the Royals’ opener – far too easily in the ninth minute from a corner – it signalled a very bleak Boxing Day afternoon. 

In fact, things got worse in a first half where Alfa Samedo started and finished off a one-two with Sam Baldock. The hosts had begun in their own half and when James Collins’ loose lay-off was intercepted they needed only five passes before the ball hit the net. 

Though Luton were woeful in the first half, so too was a decision from referee Matt Donohue, who judged McIntyre beyond the box when he took out Martin Cranie. The ball and the right back were just inside the 18-yard line, but with a stonewall penalty denied it was as clear a signal from the universe as it’s possible to get, that Luton were not getting anything from this match. 

“Really, in the first half, we didn’t do the basics well enough. We were a bit laboured,” said Town manager Nathan Jones afterwards. 

“We had more possession, more chances, more crosses, more shots, pretty much everything, it’s just what we did with it.” 

He rang the changes at the break with the three players introduced – Danny Hylton, Rhys Norrington-Davies and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – all providing more impetus than the entire 11 that started. 

Indeed, it took only five minutes on the pitch for the latter to emphasise that, despite the team-sheet at the Madejski, he is now virtually undroppable. 

In that short amount of time, Dewsbury-Hall played a few accurate passes; ran with intent and the ball at his feet, without tripping over his own toes; and markedly improved Town’s infuriating set-piece output. So, considering the inept first half display from the midfield four that started, these simple, progressive elements made him look – extremely relatively speaking – like Zinedine Zidane in comparison.

Norrington-Davies also stepped up to the challenge, to try and rescue the impossible, and one cross should have at least seen Hylton hit the target. The striker can’t buy a goal in the Championship, but at that point neither could his side. 

As the clocked ticked into the 90th minute, the fact that LuaLua took aim from so far out highlighted a major missed opportunity. Reading keeper Rafael really should have dealt with it, so who knows what could’ve been if Town had actually tested him before the dying moments. But therein lies one of the problems for shot-shy Town.

“In the second half, we had so many opportunities, especially in and around their box, and crosses, without producing real quality,” Jones told Three Counties Radio, adding: “We can’t keep saying that because, at the end of the day, we have to find a way to make sure we compete with these.

“In terms of performance levels, I’ve got no real issue overall, it’s just, we can’t chase a game.

“When we did finally score, it was probably too late. They tried to slow the game down as much as possible in the second half. The referee needs to do more. 

“We should’ve had a penalty at half time, but I’m not going to say those were the key factors in the game, because we can’t give two goals away and then expect to win a game.” 

Still, when the pickings have been so slim away from Kenilworth Road, it’s a Christmas miracle for small mercies that the net finally bulged for the first time since George Moncur scored in Huddersfield at the start of November.  

PLAYER RATINGS: 

JAMES SHEA – 4

There’ll be debates as to whether he should’ve got closer to Tom McIntyre’s opener and though he conceded again, he was otherwise untroubled.

MARTIN CRANIE – 3

He should’ve won a first half penalty when Tom McIntyre clattered him on the edge of the area. Instead he earned one of the clearest bookings you’ll ever see after a loose pass convinced him to cynically scythe down Andy Rinomhota. Replaced at the break by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. 

SONNY BRADLEY – 4

The captain was decent in the air but he got drawn in by Sam Baldock for Reading’s second.

TOM LOCKYER – 4

The Wales international suffered the same fate as his centre back partner when he could only watch Sam Baldock bypass him with a ball for Alfa Samedo to double the Royals’ lead.

DAN POTTS – 5

Linked up well with Rhys Norrington-Davies in the second half. Replaced by Harry Cornick in the 76th minute. 

GLEN REA – 2

In a 45-minute ‘masterclass’ of how not to pass the football, he teed up Reading’s Ovie Ejaria on the edge of his own area and had to slide in to get himself out of jail. Given the hook at the break and replaced by Danny Hylton

PELLY-RUDDOCK MPANZU – 3.5

He toe-poked through to Martin Cranie for the penalty shout, which was one of the few times appeared to find a team-mate with a pass. He survived the half time purge, but was replaced by Kazenga LuaLua in the 56th minute.

GEORGE MONCUR – 3

Barely in the game and when Town won rare set-pieces in dangerous areas he wasted them. Replaced at the break by Rhys Norrington-Davies.

LUKE BERRY – 5

He had Luton’s first sniff of a chance on 52 minutes but his shot was blocked well before it troubled the goal. Headed a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall corner straight at Reading goalie Rafael. 

JORDAN CLARK – 2.5

Back in the starting line-up for the first time in four games, he was asleep at a corner and didn’t track the run of Tom Macintyre for Reading’s opener. It feels a long time ago that he scored the winner on this ground in the Carabao Cup.

JAMES COLLINS – 3.5

Isolated up top, he cut a frustrated figure in the first half, chasing long hopeless balls pumped up field. He created Town’s first chance early in the second half.

SUBSTITUTES: 

DANNY HYLTON –  4  

Had a good chance to open his Championship account but he mistimed a header that came off his shoulder and went wide, which highlighted maximum effort versus a lack of sharpness and confidence. 

KIERNAN DEWSBURY-HALL – 7 (star man)

A surprise omission from the starting line-up, he showed in his first five minutes why he is, head and shoulders, Luton’s best player this season. He comes in for so much praise that we’re in danger of appearing sycophantic, but he really is that good.

RHYS NORRINGTON-DAVIES – 6.5

He actually provided an attacking threat out wide where previously there was none. One long, swooping cross deserved to go down as an assist but Danny Hylton fluffed his lines.  

KAZENGA LUALUA – 5.5

He netted in the final minute from 35 yards out to finally end the Hatters’ goal drought on the road. Along with a hugely similar strike at the tail end of last term against Hull, the fact that he’s prepared to have a pop should signal him as a go-to man for Town’s goal troubles. Booked in the 65th minute.

HARRY CORNICK – 5

Looked to get to the byline and one cross looked useful but Town couldn’t convert. 

UNUSED SUBS: Ryan Tunnicliffe, Matty Pearson, Simon Sluga, Sam Nombe