Carling Cup, Round 2

Tuesday 20th September 2005,

Madejski Stadium, 20:00pm Kick-Off

TEAM LINE-UP'S

Reading - Hahnemann, Murty, Makin, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Oster, Hunt, Harper, Baradji, Doyle (Lita 57), Obinha (Cox 85)

Subs not used; Federici (GK), Little, Gunnarsson

Luton Town - Brill, Edwards, Davis, Coyne, Barnett (Keane 55), Nicholls, Holmes, Berkovic, Howard, Feeney, Morgan

Subs not used; Seremet (GK), O'Leary, Andrew, Stevens

MATCH REVIEW

Steve Coppell's Reading side left it to late to secure a fluky goal in a disappointing 1-0 win over fellow Championship side Luton Town.

The Royals made 4 changes from the side that beat Crewe at the weekend. Starting the game was John Oster in place of Glen Little, who made the bench. Stephen Hunt came in for American winger Bobby Convey who didn't make the 16. Sekou Baradji came in for his first start since joining the club from West Ham in place of Brynjar Gunnarsson who joined Glen Little on the bench and again Eric Obinha gained his first start in place of Leroy Lita, who had to settle for a place on the bench.

The game was certainly of a poor quality, with few chances by the Royals.

The opening chance came on 15 minutes when Ibrahima Sonko released Obinha with a quick free kick, who crossed for Stephen Hunt who shot well wide.

5 minutes later Luton had there 1st chance of the game when former Reading player Dean Morgan's good effort of a free kick went just wide. Morgan certainly impressed last night and appears to have got a new lease of life under Mike Newell at Luton.

Just minutes later Morgan again came close when he got the better of Reading skipper Graeme Murty who shot but again it went wide.

On 39 minutes Luton had the ball in the net but the goal was disallowed for offside. Former Wigan midfielder Kevin Nicholls threaded through a lovely ball to Steve Howard who got the better of Marcus Hahnemann but the linesman ruled for offside.

Neither side created anything better before the referee blew for half time.

Half Time; Reading 0-0 Luton Town

Neither side made any changes at half time and the lively Morgan came alive again on 53 minutes when his shot from 25 yards went just wide. It was certainly an impressive performance by Morgan who maybe had something of a point to prove to Royals boss Steve Coppell.

4 minutes later the Royals were forced into a change when Kevin Doyle picked up a knock on his ankle, forcing Leroy Lita into action.

The game stayed a boring dull affair until with 10 minutes left on the scoreboard when Obinha won a free kick just outside the area on the left wing. The free kick was whipped in by former Sunderland winger John Oster with the ball in beating everybody and going past the keeper Brilll at the far post. The goal was a tad fortunate and the Royals were lucky to be in front.

With minutes remaining in the game, academy youngster Simon Cox earned his debut for the Royals by replacing Obinha. Cox is a midfielder/striker and it gave the brave 6,941 supporters something to cheer about.

In the end Luton couldn't create anymore and the game finished as a 1-0 victory to Reading, which sees them go into the hat for Round 3 of the Carling Cup. In this round, the likes of holders Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle join the competition which could lead to some great ties.

Full Time; Reading 1-0 Luton Town

Man Of The Match: James Harper

Attendance - 6,941

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID

Steve Coppell, Reading Manager

"Given all the changes it's no surprise that it wasn't a fluid performance. It was a fluke goal but with extra time looming large I was happy to see it go in.

"Luton are a good, strong, aggressive side and I fully anticipate them being near the top of the league at the end of the season, they are hard to play against and hard to beat.

"Beyond this round all of a sudden you start to see more of an edge to the competition. If we get a big game in the next round, this will become a great tie to win."

Mike Newell, Luton Town Manager

"I thought we were very hard done by. We had the game under control and we were the better side in my opinion. I don't think anybody could argue that.

"The winning goal was not a shot, it was a cross but it has found its way into the net and we should have dealt with it better. The ball has come in very flat and what it needed was one of our players to lose their marker and get it away. Once the ball had bounced over the goalkeeper we had no chance.

"We didn't really have many clear cut chances but we did have a couple where we could have got our shot in quicker. We certainly had more of the ball but I'm not disappointed in the way we performed, especially in the 2nd half because I thought for a 15 minute spell we run all over them."

Please Note : Luton Quotes courtesy of www.lutontown.co.uk  

The Royals are back in action this Saturday when we travel to Norfolk to face Norwich City.

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