Reading vs Luton Town FC (18th Dec 2025)

18/12/2025 READING 3-2 LUTON TOWN

Hatters fall to late defeat at Reading

Town fight back from two goals down but fall to late defeat at the Madejski Stadium

The Hatters went down to a defeat at Reading despite coming back from 2-0 down at one stage at the Madejski Stadium.

Trailing to goals from Lewis Wing, from the penalty spot, and former Town striker Jack Marriott, Jack Wilshere’s side rallied and were on level terms with 15 minutes still to play.

Firstly, Jordan Clark, on his first start since the win at Northampton in October, poked home to reduce the deficit shortly before the hour following Shayden Morris’ cross.

And the comeback was complete when Nigel Lonwijk struck his first goal in Town colours with a thunderous hit from 25 yards.

You felt at that stage with the momentum all with the Hatters they might find a winner, but Reading had other ideas and substitute Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan restored the Royals’ lead with 12 minutes to play when finishing smartly past Josh Keeley.

It was harsh on the Hatters who had dominated for long spells. However, despite seven minutes of added time, the closest they came to an equaliser was when George Saville saw a shot hit the side netting and the Town were left to reflect on a first defeat after four games unbeaten in League One.

The Hatters are back in action on Boxing Day when Wycombe Wanderers visit Kenilworth Road.

Town: Keeley, Lonwijk, Bramall, Naismith (sub Morris 45+1), Andersen, Mengi, Walsh (sub Saville 86), Fanne (sub Nelson 86), Clark (sub Brown 64), Kodua, Wells (sub Yates 64).

Subs not used: Shea, Makosso.

Attendance: 9,252 with 1,101 backing the Town.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neDQyMNpJkA – Jack Wilshere post match interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeF3aE8_Up8 – Match highlights

League One: Reading 3 Luton Town 2

Sloppy defending means Luton's comeback is in vain at Reading

Sloppy defending cost Luton Town dearly once again this evening as they let a point slip needlessly out of their grasp at Reading, falling to a 3-2 defeat.

The visitors had trailed 2-0 with 52 minutes on the clock only to hit back to draw level at 2-2 thanks to goals from Jordan Clark and Nigel Lonwijk. But just as thoughts turned to a comeback victory, Town’s brittle defence was sliced open for the third time in the game as Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan was able to beat Josh Keeley to ensure it was the Royals who claimed all three points.

Hatters, who made three changes from the 2-2 draw with Port Vale, Jordan Clark, Nahki Wells and Lamine Fanne in for Jacob Brown. George Saville and Milli Alli, dominated possession in the opening stages as they had the majority of the ball early on, fashioning one good chance when Gideon Kodua might have shot himself, only to tee up Cohen Bramall instead who dragged his effort wide of the target.

However, boss Jack Wilshere had spoken in the build-up at his concerns that Town were the worst in the division for conceding goals in transition moments, but that’s exactly what happened on eight minutes, when Liam Walsh’s free kick dropped to Fanne, who tried to tee up Clark just outside the box.

His pass was picked off allowing the Royals to go for the jugular, which they did, as although Town had players racing back, the ball rebounded to Daniel Kyerewaa who took a touch in the area, Keeley unwisely deciding to come racing off his line, only ending up catching the attacker for a penalty that Lewis Wing had no problem in tucking home. Town still remained patient in their efforts to get back into the game, as on 16 minutes they produced a good move on their right with a deft flick from Clark finding Kodua who eventually had a crack, deflecting behind.

From Kal Naismith’s corner, goalscorer Wing stuck out a leg and could only divert it towards his own goal, Joel Pereira making a save that looked very much for the benefit of the Sky cameras. With his tail up, Wing had another go from range which bounced wide, as although Luton continued to have all the ball, they couldn’t create anything, which is becoming a depressingly familiar tale, Reading looking dangerous when the ball was played in behind, as their pace was a threat to Town’s rather laboured back-line.

The visitors did then get possession in and around the area as Wells had a go, swerving a shot straight at Pereira, who was then extended on 35 minutes when a corner was cleared out to Cohen Bramall and his low daisycutter was well handled by the stopper who was able to gather the loose ball before it squirmed clear. Town were forced into a change on the stroke of half time, Naismith going off holding his calf and Shayden Morris coming on, with Bramall heading to left back, and Kodua over to the left flank, allowing the sub to take up a position on the right.

After the break, Luton’s poor passing hindered them again with a heavy touch from Kodua and Fanne passing straight out of play, but they did go close on 50 minutes, winning the ball back high up as Liam Walsh found Morris whose shot was cleared away by a sliding defender. Kamari Doyle went for goal at the other end, getting too much on his effort, before a carbon copy of the first half saw Mengi’s pass seized upon by the hosts with 52 minutes gone, and showed the Hatters how it’s done, ex-Luton forward Jack Marriott driving forward and hammering a terrific effort into the corner of the net.

Town had their chance to do something similar, but the final ball to Morris was poor and cut out. They did finally find the winger on the hour mark who was able to skip past his man and send over a low cross that saw Wing get his clearance all wrong, Clark stationed a few yards out to swivel and toepoke the ball over the line, giving Wilshere’s men a lifeline. Reading almost restored their two-goal advantage when the ball rebounded out to Derrick Williams on the edge of the box whose shot beat Keeley but was inches wide of the target.

Wilshere looked to his bench again, bringing on Jerry Yates and Brown for Wells and Clark, as Yates played a good ball into the feet of Kodua but his difficult night continued as he took the wrong option yet again and the opportunity went begging. Luton then looked to have rescued a point on 76 minutes when Walsh showed some neat close control, with Yates also involved, as the ball reached Lonwijk of all people who simply drew back his right foot some 25 yards from goal and hammered the ball first time beyond the dive of Pereira and into the net for his first ever Town goal.

His and the Hatters' joy was incredibly short-lived though as Town’s thoughts of finding a winner went up in smoke just two minutes later, Bramall missing his header, which saw the visitors’ defence sliced open way too easily and there was substitute Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan to tap beyond the onrushing Keeley and over the line.

Luton brought on Saville and Zack Nelson for the final five minutes as Town were almost level when a good move saw Bramall dink over a cross that Morris took on first time only to fire well over the bar. Although the Hatters had seven minutes of injury time to play with, it wasn’t until the final minute that they threatened an equaliser, Saville cutting into the box only to miss the bottom corner by a fraction, as Town’s four game unbeaten run in the league was ended.

Royals: Joe Periera, Jeriel Dorsett (Kelvin Abrefa 71), Jack Marriott (Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan 65), Charlie Savage, Lewis Wing (C), Daniel Kyerewaa (Liam Fraser 86) , Paudie O’Connor, Andy Yiadom (Finley Burns 86), Randell Williams, Kamari Doyle (Mark O’Mahony 86), Derrick Williams.

Subs not used: Jack Stevens, Andre Garcia.

Hatters: Josh Keeley, Nigel Lonwijk, Kal Naismith (Shayden Morris 45), Teden Mengi, Mads Andersen, Lamine Fanne (Zack Nelson 86), Liam Walsh (George Saville 86), Jordan Clark (Jacob Brown 64), Gideon Kodua, Cohen Bramall, Nahki Wells (Jerry Yates 64).

Subs not used: James Shea, Christ Makosso.

Booked: Yiadom 72, Brown 77, Ehibhatiomhan 90.

Referee: Edward Duckworth.

Attendance: 9,252 (1,101 Hatters).

'Cheap goals' frustrate Hatters boss as Town lose out to Royals

Wilshere annoyed by 3-2 defeat at Reading

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere was left to reflect on yet another game where his side were guilty of conceding ‘cheap goals’ as they fell to a thoroughly disappointing 3-2 defeat at Reading last night.

Having made a decent enough start to the game, Cohen Bramall shooting wide early on, Luton then thought they were in a promising position when Liam Walsh stood over a free kick on seven minutes. Having sent it into the box, it fell to midfielder Lamine Fanne who tried to tee up team-mate Jordan Clark for a shot, only to see his pass picked off by an opponent which allowed the hosts to mount an attack of their own.

They did so as well, piling forward, as the ball went to Randell Williams, who saw his pass cannon into the path of Daniel Kyerewaa via Teden Mengi’s challenge, with keeper Josh Keeley rashly choosing to come racing off his line and try to gather the ball, giving the forward the perfect opportunity to take a tumble over him and win a penalty that Lewis Wing slotted into the bottom corner.

Having got through to the break a goal behind, it was the same in the second period, Luton conceding once more after just seven minutes, Mengi’s ball out from the back pounced upon as ex-Hatter Jack Marriott was allowed to let fly with a terrific shot from just outside the box that flew past Keeley and into the bottom corner.

Although Town displayed great character to come back through Jordan Clark and Nigel Lonwijk, just as attention turned to looking for a win, the hosts were gifted their third goal, Bramall missing a header which allowed Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan to be sent through to beat Keeley, who again was way off his line. Speaking afterwards, Wilshere, who saw his team have over 65 percent possession on the night, said: “It’s frustrating as when you play like that and you dominate a game, you ask the players to do something and they execute it, almost perfectly in certain moments and it’s the same things, we keep conceding cheap goals and we have to start understanding those moments really matter.

"I’ve been there as a player when you come back into a game and there is a natural sigh of relief but we have to manage it, and we have to recognise that we’re the only team that’s going to win the game. We miss a header, there’s a ball behind us and we concede again and we’re back into that moment and that’s exactly what they wanted. They wanted to see the game out and we have to stop conceding cheap goals.”

Ahead of the game, Wilshere had mentioned that when he took the job, he was more than aware how the Hatters have struggled against transitions, sitting bottom of the table for goals conceded in that fashion. Although that has improved somewhat since he took over, it happened for what feels like the umpteenth time when Reading were able to break the deadlock at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, as he continued: “It’s frustrating and we have to be a team where it doesn’t happen and we can be a team where it doesn’t happen as we’ve got defenders that can defend high up the pitch, that can step in and help us sustain attacks.

"When we conceded the penalty we didn’t do that, for the rest of the game we did do that and we did control their transitions. The second goal comes from us giving the ball away, and the third was from the second or third phase from a set-piece, so it happens once and we get punished for it. It really feels like it hurts, but honestly I thought the players, they executed a lot of the stuff we talked about.

"The spaces we wanted to attack, I think you could see in the first half they didn’t know how to press us. We spoke at half time about having more threat and I felt like we did do that at the start of the second half and the whole of the second half, but then we concede a goal, the context of the game changes and we are the only team then trying to score. So there’s a lot of good things, but ultimately disappointed as we came here for three points and we go home with none.”

On how he believes the Hatters can improve their defending, as they have now conceded 13 goals in their last six League One encounters, without a clean sheet since November 22, he added: “We have to show them, we have to be honest with each other, we have to hold our hands up. I’m really proud of the group as I walk in there and they hold their hands up straight away and that’s important as well as they can hold each other accountable, they can demand more from each other.

"We have to keep doing it and in those moments when we feel like we’ve got back in the game, that’s when you need it even more. You need to double down on it, you need to make sure you’re not allowing anything, as at that moment their spirit’s gone. It feels like they’re 2-0 up, they’ve thrown it away and then we’ve given them something and they’re back in the moment where they can just hold on to something, defend their box. We know that’s difficult and even then we still created moments from that and we have to score one of them.”