Jones felt Hatters thoroughly deserved Royals cup win

Hatters boss Nathan Jones felt his side fully deserved their 1-0 Carabao Cup second round win over Reading at the Madejski Stadium this evening.

Summer signing Jordan Clark scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half, rising impressively to power a header beyond keeper Luke Southwood and into the net for his first strike in Town colours.

That was enough against a Royals side who had plenty of possession, but failed to ever really trouble James Shea, as Luton went through to face five-time winners and Premier League giants Manchester United in round three.

Speaking afterwards, Jones said: “We’d have liked to have put the game to bed earlier.

"Hylts (Danny Hylton) had a great chance, we had a number of opportunities, it’s gone across the box and we’ve had a number of shots that have been blocked and not quite finishing with aplomb, but I felt we thoroughly deserved it.

“We controlled the game really and didn’t really have a problem, they had a lot of possession second half without really hurting us in any way and I always felt we were strong.

“It was a good work out as they’re a very structured side, can cause you problems, have a ruthlessness, have some real good players in there with experience, with (Sone) Aluko, (Sam) Baldock.

"Real, real good players at this level, so it’s another good win.

“It’s another 1-0 win, away from home, clean sheet, through to the next round and there was always the carrot of playing Man United.”

Jones made nine changes for the game, giving a first start to match-winner Clark, plus recent additions Tom Lockyer and James Bree.

On his decision to do so, the boss continued: “I would have liked to have made 11 if I could have, not because I didn’t treat the competition with the respect it deserves, but we’ve got a strong enough squad.

“(Dan) Potts has been injured, so I’ve had to play (Rhys) Norrington-Davies again and Bree hasn’t been up to speed, so (Martin) Cranie’s played at right back.

“It shows we’ve got good strength in depth as structurally we were decent.

“We’ve come here against a tricky side in terms of how they play and I thought we defended and worked and got a real good 90 minutes into their legs, which will stand them all in good stead as we want to get them all up to speed for the Championship tests which are coming.”

Clark’s goal when it came was a superb leap at the far post from Norrington-Davies’ left-wing cross, although Jones felt Town could have added more to their tally.

He said: “It was a great header, a great ball in, Jordan’s come in, attacked it, a great header and we’ve had a few of those.

“In the second half, Hylts had a looping header, Sonny Bradley’s had a free header into the keeper’s hands and then we’ve put a ball in they’ve sliced and almost had an own goal.

“So there’s been a lot of situations that we would have liked to extend our lead to make it slightly less tricky late on, but I’m very pleased.

"We’re into the hat, a clean sheet and that’s always nice.”