Jack Wilshere calls on Luton to stop conceding ‘cheap goals’

Luton manager Jack Wilshere has urged his side to stop conceding “cheap goals” after his side’s dramatic 3-2 League One defeat at strugglers Reading.

The hosts forged into a 2-0 lead with goals from Lewis Wing, from a penalty, and Jack Marriott only for the Hatters to level through Jordan Clark and Nigel Lonwijk.

But home substitute Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan grabbed a 78th-minute winner to end Luton’s four-match unbeaten league run.

Wilshere said: “It’s frustrating because, when you play like that and dominate the game, and when you ask the players to do something and they execute it almost perfectly, it’s the same old thing.

“We just keep conceding cheap goals… we have to start to understand that those can be the moments that really matter.

“I’ve been there as a player that, when you come back into a game, there is a natural sigh of relief.

“But we have to manage that and we have to recognise that. We were the only team that was going to win this game.

“But we miss a header, there’s a ball in behind us, and we concede again.

“We just have to stop conceding those cheap goals.

“It’s so frustrating. We have to become a team where that doesn’t happen and we can become a team where that doesn’t happen.

“When it does happen, when we get punished, it hurts.

“But the players did execute a lot of the stuff that we had been talking about.

“You could see in the first half, Reading didn’t know how to press us.

“There was a lot of good things but, ultimately, it was so disappointing.

“We came here for three points and we go away with none.”

Reading moved up from 18th in the table – only out of the relegation zone on goal difference – to 14th.

“I was delighted with the result and delighted with how we responded to a negative setback [Luton’s two goals],” Royals manager Leam Richardson said.

“Not so pleased with how it came about. I thought that we were in control of the game at 2-0.

“But we know that we’ve got a young squad and some young players who are learning on the job.

“We’ve spoken to them in the last week or 10 days about how consistent we must be with our own performances.

“We have to put that consistency into our results.

“Sometimes you just have to find a way to win and, tonight, that’s what we did.

“We can now go into the festive period looking forward to the next game.

“At 2-2, we bounced back quickly. Good teams and good groups do that.

“Tonight, the lads who went on the pitch [the substitutes] really lifted their levels. That’s so important.”