Cole returns as Luton make seven changes against Reading

Luton manager Jack Wilshere has made seven changes to his side to take on Reading in the battle for the League One play-offs this afternoon.

Striker Devante Cole starts for the first time since the 1-0 loss at Wigan Athletic, as he joins Josh Keeley, Nigel Lonwijk, Joe JOhnson, George Saville, Kasey Palmer, Izzy Jones in coming into the team, with James Shea, Liam Walsh, Hakeem Odoffin, Nahki Wells and Gideon Kodua dropping to the bench, Davy van den Berg and Mads Andersen missing out completely.

Wingback Cohen Bramall is also fit enough to return to the squad having been out with ligament damage since the 1-0 win over Blackpool on January 31, as although Town will operate with a severely altered back-line this afternoon, Wilshere wants a return to their miserly defending, as after conceding in midweek to the visitors’ first real touch inside their area, it means they have now gone seven matches without a clean sheet.

He said: “We have to look at it, we have to show the players it, we have to speak about it. We do, we do a lot, we talk a lot about attacking, the areas we want to attack and how much we’ve improved with that, but there are things in this league that you have to do and I’ve said it so many times.

"I feel Reading is a different test as they play and we have to be ready in every phase defensively, but a lot of teams, I think about Northampton, I think about Port Vale, they play a lot of direct balls so you can press them high and then you know it’s going to end up on your last line and you have to win the first contact, you have to win the second contact.

"If you give away a foul which can happen, then you have to make sure you defend the set-piece. We’ve spoken about that a lot, earlier on in the season we praised the players and rightly so for the amount of clean sheets they kept, but we have to get back to that mindset. It is the mindset in my opinion to be relentless in defending our box for 95 minutes, because you can see in this league, I think about the Burton game, we defended our box really, really well until the 93rd minute and then get punished for that.

"So we want to stop those moments as that makes it harder for us to win games, we have to keep talking about it, keep practicing on the training pitch because we need to improve that. Sometimes as well you have to praise the opposition, but I thought we have to defend the set-piece better on Wednesday. I feel like we were too far over on one side, but it’s an excellent delivery.

"The goal against Burton, we have to stop the cross, we have to stay switched on at the back post, but they also practice that a lot, so it is a mentality thing in my opinion, where we have to stay focused and relentless for 95 minutes, because even against Northampton I feel like the last 10 minutes we were excellent in defending our box, the last four minutes there was a moment where they received the ball and our line was outstanding as we caught them offside. So we are getting better with it and we have to keep believing in it and showing the players it, also showing them the good times.”

Hatters: Josh Keeley, Izzy Jones, Nigel Lonwijk, Kal Naismith, Joe Johnson, Emilio Lawrence, George Saville, Kasey Palmer, Jordan Clark, Jake Richards, Devante Cole. Subs: James Shea, Liam Walsh, Shayden Morris, Hakeem Odoffin, Nahki Wells, Gideon Kodua, Cohen Bramall.

Royals: Joel Pereira, Liam Fraser, Charlie Savage, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, Lewis Wing ©, Paudie O’Connor, Benn Ward, Andy Yiadom, Randell Williams, Kamari Doyle, Derrick Williams. Subs: Jack Stevens, Kelvin Abrefa, Jeriel Dorsett, Finley Burns, Matt Ritchie, Paddy Lane, Sean Patton. Referee: Oliver Mackey.