YOUNG ROYALS TASTE DEFEAT
VELJKO PAUNOVIĆ bemoaned his side’s poor finishing as he tasted defeat for the first time as Reading manager against Luton Town.
“I’m always disappointed when you lose but if you’re going to lose, I prefer to lose in this way,” said Paunović.
“We dominated the second half but didn’t have the process in the box or enough finishing. We have to finish the actions if we want to score.”
The Royals exited the EFL Cup in the second-round, surrendering the chance to face Manchester United at the Madejski Stadium.
Jacob Clark scored the only goal of the game in the 24th minute with a powerful header that beat Luke Southwood.
Paunović’s young side struggled to create chances despite seeing more of the ball in the second half as theywere limited to speculative efforts from distance formuch of the match.
Several academy players were handed their debuts, including 17-year-old Dejan Tetek as Sam Baldock was selected as captain for the evening.
Sone Aluko had Reading’s first attempt of the game but got his effort horriblywrong as he scuffed his volley off for a throw in.
The Royals boss was animated on the sidelines in an appeal for a penaltywhen Ethan Bristow’s cross looked to have struck a Luton hand in the box, but the referee wasn’t interested.
After a lackluster first-half, Luton looked the more likely to add a second early in the second period as Tom McIntyre almost diverted a cross into his own net before Danny Hylton’s looping header dropped just past the far post.
Reading came closest to finding an allusive equaliser when Sone Aluko’s free kick were headed across the face of goal from Holmes but wasn’t converted by a blue shirt as Luton survived their only big scare of the half.
“You have to finish with purpose and not shoot with no sense, this is what we lacked in this game,” Paunović said.
“It’s something we have to improve on, but on the other side the spirit is important
“I did expect more from our attacking performance overall from everyone.
“The team didn’t give up and we maybe weren’t dangerous in the final third but if you see some of the players today, some were playing for the first time in a long time and others had their debuts.
“We lost the game but there were a lot of positives.”
Despite the defeat, the Serbian boss defended his decision to make 11 changes to the starting line-up that won at Derby County.
“I want everyone to be connected and this is an opportunity for them to claim a spot in the league,” he added.
“Given the circumstances, we believe this was the right approach and I’m proud of the effort of the players.”
READING: Southwood, Watson, Bristow, McIntyre, Araruna, Tetek, Aluko, McNulty, Baldock, Puscas.
SUBS: Walker, Sackey, Abbey, East,
Pendlebury, Ajose, Melvin-Lambert LUTON TOWN: Shea, Tunnicliffe, Bradley, Hylton, Shinnie, Moncour, Lockyer, Clark, Norrington-Davies, Lualua, Bree
SUBS: Cranie, Cornick, Lee, Rea, Collins,
Kioso, Sluga
GOALS: Clarke 24′