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VENUE Madejski Stadium ATTENDANCE 7,498 REFEREE D Whitestone (Northampton) MATCH DATE 26 August 2008 KICK OFF TIME 20:00

READING Adam Federici   Julian Kelly   Alex Pearce   Michael Duberry   Ívar Ingimarsson 21   Scott Golbourne   James Henry   James Harper   Gylfi Sigurðsson 59   Jem Karacan   Stephen Hunt   Noel Hunt Shane Long   David Mooney 59   SUBS NOT USED Bobby Convey   Jimmy Kébé   Liam Rosenior   Mikkel Andersen

LUTON TOWN Conrad Logan   Claude Gnakpa   Keith Keane   George Pilkington   Sol Davis   Rossi Jarvis 45   Tristan Plummer   Kevin Watson   Kevin Nicholls   Lewis Emanuel   Sam Parkin   Ryan Charles 64   Chris Martin Asa Hall 82   SUBS NOT USED Dean Brill   Ed Asafu-Adjaye   Ian Roper   Michael Spillane

Match Report	26 August 2008
Reading 5 - 1 Luton Town

READING 5 Noel Hunt '11 Stephen Hunt '15 Alex Pearce '54 Jem Karacan '55 James Henry '76  LUTON TOWN 1 Ryan Charles '80

FIVE-STAR READING THUMP LUTON IN CARLING CUP...

Luton Town bowed out of the Carling Cup at the Second Round stage after Championship opponents Reading proved too tough an opposition at the Madejski Stadium.

Despite a typically hard working and tireless performance, the Hatters were second best all the way through and were taken apart by the higher Division outfit.

On-loan Leicester City goalkeeper Conrad Logan was given his debut, in what was one of four changes from the weekend. Ex-Royals midfielder Kevin Watson, defender Keith Keane and exciting young winger Tristan Plummer were also handed their first starts of the campaign.

After already disposing of a Championship side in the last round, the Hatters certainly had nothing to fear, but were on the back foot right from the first whistle.

Reading had a glorious chance to open the scoring in just the fifth minute. James Henry split the Luton defence in half with a delightful through ball into the feet Shane Long, who had shaken off his marker and beaten the offside trap. But, after skipping around a last-ditch challenge, the Irish forward fired his shot over the crossbar.

"It was Reading's first corner of the evening that led to the opening goal on 11 minutes"

Despite the fact it was a makeshift side, Steve Coppell's Reading were playing some delightful football early on and, it was their first corner of the evening that led to the opening goal on 11 minutes.

Stephen Hunt's in swinging corner from the right was met by Noel Hunt, who headed the ball beyond Logan and into the net.

Three minutes later, Reading were on the Hunt again as they doubled their lead. This time it was goal scorer Noel, who slid a perfect ball into the box from the right, where his namesake Stephen was waiting unmarked inside the six-yard box to prod the easy chance home beyond a defenceless Logan.

Shortly after going two behind, Luton then came mighty close to getting themselves back into the contest, when Royals' keeper Adam Federici had to palm striker Sam Parkin's speculative effort behind for a corner.

As the half wore on, Long twice went close to adding to his side's tally. First, he was agonisingly close to getting on the end of Henry's free-kick from the left, before then seeing his low close range shot in stoppage time thwarted by Logan's instinctive block.

At the other end, Chris Martin's powerful pile driver in first-half stoppage-time forced a decent save out of Federici in the Reading goal.

Manager Mick Harford threw on Rossi Jarvis in place of the below-par Sol Davis at half-time, but the change proved to no avail as a further two Reading goals, in the space of just 60 seconds, early in the second-half, finished the contest.

On 55 minutes, Henry provided the corner from the left that resulted in centre-half Alex Pearce heading in to make it 3-0.

The home crowd had barely had time to regain their breath as, from the re-start, Reading went straight back on the counter attack. Noel Hunt put in a cross from the right flank into the path of Jem Karacan and, with the Hatters defence all at sea, he was left with the easy task of finishing from close range.

Henry made it 5-0 shortly afterwards and, despite being on the wrong end of a clout, Luton's players still refused to lay down and die, fighting for the cause right to the death.

"Luton grabbed the consolation goal that their hard work deserved on 80 minutes"

They grabbed the consolation goal that their hard work deserved on 80 minutes when substitute Ryan Charles hooked the ball over the line from just inside the six-yard box, much to the delight of the travelling hoards of Luton fans behind the goal, who were still in full voice, despite the disappointing score line.

Harford's Comments	26 August 2008
Reading 5-1 Luton Town "To go out of the Carling Cup in such a way was very disappointing for the team and for the club. Reading played with a lot of passion and desire and at times we couldn't contain them. "When you look at the goals there were two set pieces and breakaway goals but overall they were deserved winners. It was a tough night for some of our players and we'll learn from it. "At times we couldn't handle the movement. The lads kept going until the death but it wasn't to be. "We came here with high hopes but it was just a flat performance and we never got started. We need to learn that we can't just turn up to grounds and expect to get a result. I'm not saying that they didn't work hard but we didn't get out of the blocks quick enough. And if you don't start well then you've always got a mountain to climb. "I'm not going to pick anyone out as individuals because I think we were all below par this evening. We can be so much better and there's a lot of improvement to come from these lads. "We are going to get hiccups along the way. As I've said, this season there are going to be highs and lows, ups and downs and it will be a rollercoaster season. This is one of the down times but we'll pick ourselves up and we will be doing work on the training ground starting tomorrow. "The positives were that Ryan Charles came on and got himself a goal. He's a young kid, energetic, wants to do well and wants to learn about the game so I'm delighted he got himself a consolation goal as it was."

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