Reading 3-4 Luton: Mad Hatters Cause A Royal Pain
There were plenty of great results to choose from across the EFL for the inaugural match review of the season, but it could really only ever be this game. Jack Wilshere’s title favourites claimed all three points on the road against a Reading side that will be hoping to be in-and-around the play-off picture this season. It was a great result for the Hatters but, in true Luton style, they just couldn’t do it the easy way. The Football League is well and truly back. We’ve missed you.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. It feels like only yesterday I was sat here writing about a barnstorming end-to-end game between these two sides that ended in a late comeback and a Reading player scoring a hat-trick. That was, in actuality, last season’s edition of this fixture at Kenilworth Road, Reading running out last-gasp 3-2 winners on that occasion. This time, it was Luton’s turn to break hearts in the dying embers of the match in what will probably end up being lauded as the game of the season when all is said and done. Why bother playing another 45? Alas, there is some comfort in the fact that, despite the ever-changing landscape of modern football, some things just can’t help repeating themselves.
Luton come into 26/27 with lofty ambitions. Buoyed by their ridiculous end of season form that saw them lose just one of their final seventeen matches (ironically, against Reading), and a summer window that has seen them strengthen from a position of strength without losing any of their big game-changing players, many around the club and in the general football supporting landscape see the Hatters as out-and-out favourites for the League One title. Their great strength, aside from the sheer quality of their squad, is in their consistency and stability. Liam Walsh, Jordan Clark, and Kasey Palmer is a monstrous midfield three for this division, and the fact they have managed to keep hold of the other two whilst making Palmer’s loan move from Hull City permanent is huge for their promotion push. Jack Wilshere has had the time now to make his mistakes, learn from them, and mould his Luton side into a near-unstoppable League One winning machine. After an inconsistent and frustrating beginning to his managerial career, Luton Town are reaping the rewards of sticking by their man and not being too quick to pull the trigger.
Despite the breadth of central midfield talent mentioned, it was Wilshere’s passion project who got them off the mark for the campaign just 6 minutes into the game. At 19 years old, many of the more “traditional” managers in the EFL would’ve considered starting Jake Richards to be too great a risk for a team facing the adversity Luton were when Wilshere took over, and in the immediate months following his appointment. In fact, the young attacking midfield prospect, who was brought in from Exeter last summer, had only started once in League One before Wilshere took the reigns in mid October. It would’ve been an easy decision to keep Richards as part of the fringes of the squad and to resort to relying on utilising experienced EFL stalwarts to drag Luton back up the division, but easy decisions don’t make great managers. If anyone knows the value of being thrust into high-pressure situations as a young midfielder, it’s Jack Wilshere. Kenilworth Road is hardly Camp Nou, but it’s the closest thing to it you’ll find in Luton. The gaffer’s trust in Richards has been justified on many an occasion and, with a goal and an assist on the opening day, this year promises to be a breakout season for the teenage sensation.
The opening goal came from what can only be described as some pretty lax defending from the hosts. Palmer and Clark linked up well in the Luton midfield, with Clark being allowed the freedom of the Select Car Leasing Stadium as a simple sideways pass found him with acres of space to run into. He drove forwards and laid the ball off to an equally unopposed Jake Richards, who cut inside onto his left and whipped the ball neatly inside the far post as his full-back just kept backing off. The ideal start for Luton, and the rest of League One’s promotion hopefuls let out a collective shudder at the sight of them carving a good team open with such ease.
One area where Luton do look a little bit light is at centre forward. 36 year-old Nahki Wells started this weekend and is, well, 36. Behind him you have Callum Marshall and Gideon Kodua, both well-thought-of products of the West Ham academy but neither proven to be consistent goalscorers at this level, and Devante Cole, who failed to score in all 14 of his games for the club last season. They’ll be hoping one of the young lads comes good sooner rather than later. A player they’d love to have amongst their ranks is former Luton youngster now turned Reading veteran, Jack Marriott. Unwanted at Ipswich after 5 middling-to-unsuccessful loan moves, the Hatters took a chance on young Marriott on a free transfer and kickstarted his career. After netting 28 goals in 91 games for the club, Peterborough snapped him up and the rest is history. Despite everything Luton has done for him, Marriott still celebrated scoring against his former side. And the second. And the third, as he completed a 30 minute first-half hat-trick. The window isn’t shut yet, there’s still time to bring him back…
His first of three came just two minutes after Richards gave Luton the lead, and showcased what it is that makes Marriott one of the very best strikers at this level. A long ball over the top from Reading was dealt with seemingly fairly comfortably by Kal Naismith, who played a routine pass back towards his ‘keeper to reset possession and launch another Luton attack. What he hadn’t accounted for, however, was the fact that Marriott will gamble on every single ball. If a pass is a little bit loose, or just a bit too slow, he snaps onto it and punishes you. It wasn’t a dreadful back-pass, but Marriott’s sheer determination and instinct meant he could latch onto the ball and tackle it beyond Josh Keeley in the Luton goal to restore parity almost immediately after going a goal behind.
Keen to ensure that he isn’t just labelled as a run-of-the-mill poacher, he made sure his second goal was nothing short of spectacular. He picked up the ball just beyond the halfway line after Palmer scuffed a pass into his path. With space to run into, he did just that, driving all the way to the edge of the area before letting off a rocket that flew inside the near post. With 31 minutes on the clock, Jack Marriott had single-handedly flipped the game on it’s head.
Unsure if one complete gift of a goal was a generous enough thank you for Reading’s hospitality, Naismith decided to hand them another one on 38 minutes to complete Marriott’s half-hour opening day hat-trick. Another looping ball over the top wasn’t dealt with at all, and Naismith was bullied off of the ball by Reading’s new summer recruit Kyreece Lisbie. After an impressive League Two season with Colchester last year, Lisbie couldn’t have asked for an easier chance than this one to grab his first assist for his new club, as all he had to do was slide the ball across goal to a wide-open Marriott who tapped home for 3-1. That was how the first half finished, leaving most of League One wondering if Luton were going to crumble again this year, or if Reading were just the best team the division had ever seen. As it turns out, it’s probably neither.
Luton came out with a point to prove. Kasey Palmer will grab the headlines, but it was young Jake Richards at the heart of all things positive for the Hatters. The first step towards the almighty comeback came just five minutes after the restart. Richards’ deep free-kick was floated into a dangerous area and headed back towards the edge of the box, only as far as Palmer. The Jamaican midfielder reacted well to contort his body and volley the ball off the ground, through a crowd of bodies, and into the top corner to halve the deficit back to just one goal. It only took another three minutes before Palmer was on the scoresheet again, drawing things back level so soon into the second half.
Luton’s equaliser came from a combination of Jake Richards’ brilliance and some amateurish defensive play from the Royals. Some neat interplay down the right-hand side saw Richards come away with the ball and begin to cut inside onto his left foot once again. Such is the danger associated with Richards that three Reading defenders got dragged into trying to contain him, leaving Nahki Wells free in the box. Richards slipped the ball through to the forward, who played it across the six-yard area for Palmer to tap his second into the empty Reading goal. Whatever Wilshere had said at the break worked wonders, and Leam Richardson was left dumbfounded and furious in the home dugout. With his relationship with the Royals faithful being rocky enough as it is, a capitulation of this magnitude is the last thing he needed to start the new season.
After such an electric 53 minutes of football, it all went a bit flat. Neither ‘keeper had another shot to save for the entirety of the match. Well, not until the 6th minute of added time anyway. A long ball forward eventually fell to Hatters’ substitute Gideon Kodua in the box, who twisted and turned to get a shot away but could only rattle the bar. What follows is either the most genius thing I’ve ever seen on a football pitch or, more likely, a ridiculous stroke of luck. The shot off the bar fell to that man Jake Richards once again, about 7 yards from goal. Depending on who you ask, what happens next is one of two events, both with the same outcome. Either the teenager Richards displays the composure of a neurosurgeon after running around for 96 minutes on the opening day of the season, opting to caress the ball with the outside of his foot as opposed to smashing it towards goal and instead finding Kodua a yard out to bundle it over the line and win the game for Luton at the death. Or, Richards absolutely scuffs a massive opportunity and is endlessly fortunate that it bounces off of his foot and into the path of his teammate so all will be forgiven and forgotten. Watch the highlights, you decide. Personally, I like Jake Richards, and he was the best player on the pitch by a mile this weekend, so I’m choosing to believe it was intentional. Either way, Luton win, and what a way to win it.
Jack Wilshere’s comeback kids have shown they’re full of heart, grit, and pure talent in this first week’s action alone. The mark of a great team is being able to win when winning looks impossible, and it doesn’t get much better than that. The Hatters are league favourites for a reason, and with the amount of technical quality in that squad mixed with the perfect quantity of steely EFL-hardened determination, it’s clear to see why many think they’ll go the distance.
For Reading, it’s another disappointing result under the widely unpopular Leam Richardson. It’s a tricky situation down there. The club has only just begun to emerge through the other side after facing total extinction and having to rely on their, fortunately excellent, youth academy to retain their League One status. That being said, they’ve been a Premier League side in their not-so-distant history, and have terrorised the second tier on more than one occasion in that same period. The hard times are in the rear view mirror, and there’s only so many times you can hear “well, at least we have a club” before you start to lose your sanity. Trust me, been there. Yes, be grateful that your club exists, but don’t let than stop you from demanding more, and don’t let other fans try and make you feel guilty for doing so. Reading expects, and another mid-table season in the third tier just won’t do for their supporters, and nor should it. If teams like Luton and Lincoln can stroll to promotion, why not Reading?