Luton pull off fine comeback to win at Reading in League One season opener

Luton Town recorded a big comeback victory as they came from a 3-1 half-time deficit to win 4-3 away at Reading.

The Hatters had found themselves 3-1 down at half-time at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, as despite scoring early through Jake Richards, a hat-trick by one-time Luton striker Jack Marriott saw Reading move into a 3-1 half-time lead.

A defiant Luton would recover, however, with two goals in three minutes at the start of the second half by Kasey Palmer wiping out the deficit before an injury time winner by Gideon Kodua won the day for Jack Wilshere’s side.

It added up to a sensational start to the season for Luton, who begin the new league campaign with a dramatic victory and make it 2 wins from 2 in all competitions after beating Gillingham in the Carabao Cup last weekend.

Things got off to a fine start in a sunny Berkshire for the visitors when they took the lead after six minutes. Jordan Clark’s pass released Richards, who duly threaded a crisp strike past the Reading keeper Joel Pereira.

That lead would only last two minutes, however. Reading would equalise when Marriott was first to an underhit backpass by Luton defender Kal Naismith and the striker beat Josh Keeley to equalise.

Reading would make it 2-1 just after the half-hour mark, when a strike by Marriott from outside the box was too hot for Keeley to stop, and things duly got worse for Luton when Reading made it 3-1 a few moments later. Kyreece Lisbie barged Naismith out the way before squaring for Marriott to grab a first-half hat trick.

Things could’ve got even worse for Luton, with Josh Stokes and Daniel Kyerewaa both having shots blocked at a stoppage time corner.

Half-time soon bought a change in momentum, however. Five minutes after the break, Palmer made it 3-2 when he picked up a loose ball from a corner Reading hadn’t totally cleared and hit a volley into the turf that flew beyond Pereira’s reach.

Within two minutes, Palmer had his second as he got the score back to 3-3. Nahki Wells teed up Palmer, who duly drilled the strike into the back of the net to bring the Hatters back on level terms.

The rest of the game didn’t really provide as many opportunities for either side, but as it ticked into the sixth minute of stoppage time, there would be huge drama as Luton got the late winner.

Kodua smashed an initial shot off the crossbar after a good run, but Richards’ errant attempt to send a rebound on goal ended up sending the ball perfectly back to the Luton sub, and Kodua made no mistake with his second attempt, firing home to win the day for Luton Town.

With their first points of the new season on the board, Luton will look to build some early season form as they welcome Notts County to Kenilworth Road next Saturday.