Luton chief felt it was a 'massive moment' not to give Town a penalty during Reading defeat

Luton boss Nathan Jones felt the decision not to award his a penalty in their 2-1 defeat at Reading yesterday was a ‘massive moment’ in the contest.

On the stroke of half time and already trailing by two goals, Town, who had barely threatened, saw Martin Cranie felled by Tom McIntyre, with referee Matt Donohue believing it came outside the box, awarding a free kick and booking the Royals centre half.

Replays showed the contact was clearly inside the area, as speaking about the incident afterwards, Jones said: “It is a massive moment in the game as you go in 2-1, it’s different, they’re a little bit more edgy, we come out and then we only need one to get something from the game.

"At 2-0, they slowed the game down, they’re allowed to slow the game down.

"There were so many fouls by the midfield player and nothing was done, it really frustrated you second half, but as I said, I can’t affect those kind of things.

"So what I’m looking at, is we had enough structural opportunities, that when we got in the final third, to deliver, to put balls in the box, to put quality in the box, to hit the target, to have movement and headers, to do all that.

"We work on things, but they didn't do that and that’s the only thing I can affect.

"I can’t affect the refereeing performance, the decisions, those are the things I can affect and that’s what I’m disappointed with."