Goals from Ronan Murray and Lee Martin (pen) weren’t enough to prevent Town’s reserves from falling to a 3-2 defeat to Luton at Portman Road this afternoon. The Hatters fielded a more experienced side including former Southampton and Newcastle man Alan Neilson, now a coach at Kenilworth Road.

Both sides had early chances, Jack Ainsley having an effort saved and Lee Martin coming close to getting a toe to Reggie Lambe’s cross from the left.

At the other end, Richard Wright saved well from Ty Ateino, before Lee Martin shot not far wide of the Luton goal. Town were forced into an early change when centre-half Troy Brown picked up a blow to the mouth and was replaced by Rory McKeown, just back from a spell away with the Northern Irish U17s.

Luton ought to have gone in front just after the half hour when Matthew Barnes Homer headed wide when well placed. However, a Hatters goal wasn’t too much longer in coming, Barnes Homer sending in a ball from the left which Ryan Charles hit into the ground, back across Richard Wright and into the net.

Reggie Lambe, who was somewhat controversially wearing yellow boots, might have put the Blues back on terms almost immediately but shot wide with a hint of a Luton handball inside the area in the build-up.

Steve Foley’s men did pull level on 39 when Billy Clark played a peach of a pass into the path of Ronan Murray running in from the right. The Irish U19 international reached the ball ahead of Luton keeper Shane Gore and headed it into the net.

The visitors were back in front within three minutes. Richard Wright initially caught a corner but collided with McKeown and dropped the ball. The Blues repeatedly failed to clear and eventually the ball reached the edge of the area where former Norwich man Rossi Jarvis lashed a shot through a crowd of players and into the net.

Town almost equalised for a second time five minutes into the second half when Ronan Murray picked up a loose ball and took it to the edge of the area before hitting a fine shot which beat the keeper but cannoned off the post and away.

The Blues eventually added their second goal of the match from the penalty spot in the 65th minute. Murray had found Martin inside the area but Luton keeper Gore saved the former Manchester United man’s shot. Martin won the race to the loose ball and was upended by the keeper.

Amazingly referee Matt McLaughlin a matter of feet away waved away the protests but the linesman some yards off eventually persuaded him it was a penalty. Martin hit the spotkick low to the keeper’s right and into the net.

The closest Town came to a third goal came on 77 when Tom Eastman blocked a goal-bound shot and half-time sub Devann Yao took the ball practically from one end of the field to the other before hitting a shot over the bar, with Reggie Lambe in space to his right calling for a pass.

The match seemed destined for a draw when, moments before the fourth official raised his board, Mark Nwokeji powerfully headed home a cross from the right giving Richard Wright no chance and winning Luton’s second string their first points of the season.

There were few stand-out performances for the Blues in a disappointing overall display. Ronan Murray once again toiled gamely up front but largely on his own with Martin playing a role behind him. Martin himself was once more unconvincing taking on opposition against whom he really ought to have excelled.

Richard Wright will be unhappy at the manner in which the second goal was conceded, while the likes of Reggie Lambe, Jack Ainsley and Devann Yao seem unlikely to win extensions to their Town contracts from the watching Roy Keane on the strength of today’s showing.

Reserves: R Wright, Ainsley, Dunbar, Hyam, Brown (McKeown 14), Eastman, Brandon (Yao 46), Clark, Murray, Martin, Lambe. Unused: McLoughlin, Lavery.

Photo: Action Images

Wallingford_Boy added 17:09 - Mar 31 Get rid of the likes of Yao, Lambe and Ainsley - just not good enough. Stick with Eastman, Clark and Hyam - the future!!
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superblueflude added 17:13 - Mar 31 So another 3 goals past Wrighty - time to hang those boots up!
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jditfc added 17:14 - Mar 31 i heard Ainsley didnt do too bad today, cant knock the kid off having one bad day
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KeanoBlindFaith added 17:14 - Mar 31 'ello fans.
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Blueknight85 added 17:22 - Mar 31 walingford boy yao has been here about 2 months? a bit harsh don't you think lol
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MaySixth added 17:27 - Mar 31 Wrighty mistake?
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superblueflude added 17:30 - Mar 31 Dropped the ball again........... story of his career
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pioneer added 17:35 - Mar 31 Why was it controversial wearing yellow boots? (i mean, I know scum wear yellow kit, but wats that got to do with colour of boots?) odd choice, perhaps, but controversial??
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h32 added 17:49 - Mar 31 newburyblue - doesn't it tell a huge story of the demise of our club over recent times - absolutely pathetic not to be able to beat a reserve side of Luton's calibre. Shocking.
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el_nino added 18:18 - Mar 31 Why are yellow boots controversial?!!
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jas0999 added 18:30 - Mar 31 I hope people are not blaming Roy for this?!!! Re Richard Wright - unfortunately he simply hasn't performed this season. His wages will be fairly high, so it would probably be right to release him in the summer (sadly)
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ITFCsince67 added 19:45 - Mar 31 Superblueflude..... Were you there or are you just anti Wrighty? Wrighty had no chance with any of their goals which were all very well taken. The reserves were really poor today allowing Luton to boss most of the game. Murry worked hard but rest of team performace so poor. Martin first half was rubbish.
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PimsNumber1 added 19:47 - Mar 31 A terrible display. I can see why the ref baulked at giving a pen. martin`s dive was better than anything Drogba can do. I thought the delay was because he was going to book Martin for simulation. We were lucky to get the pen , and martin should have scored before chasing the rebound off the goalie. Also within 90 secs of the kick off martin got the ball and tried to take on a couple of defenders AND tripped over his own feet/the ball and fell arse over apex , absolute 1.5 mill quality ! Two mins later he receives a pass at 5 miles an hour and fails to trap it and loses possession. He was shocking and showboating but the rest were equally rubbish. Eastman dunbar and maybe hyam were a bit better if im honest but non of them will see a first team outing ever , or again, unless we are out of the relegation zone for sure and are leading 3-0 Where are luton ? conference or blue square ? and we cant beat their reserves even if their average age may have been higher than our boys. wright messed up the second goal but they finished their chances well. Please note : our first team . Posssession was about 50;50 we did not outplay them , and we lost very very poor, and i know its only the reserves but where is the pride and passion ? The club is in decline from youths upwards

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ITFCFW added 19:56 - Mar 31 ITFCsince67 - ''Wrighty had no chance with any of their goals which were all very well taken'' All three goals were very well taken but Wrighty was at fault with the second he had the ball in his hands and dropped it, it bobbled about on the box then fell to their player outside of the box. Poor performance against a team whose receord before today was played 8 lost 8 !

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Daleyitfc added 20:01 - Mar 31 Good to see our squad has strength in depth : and people say we need a stronger Reserve League to play in ....
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Bluecynic added 20:39 - Mar 31 I am pretty sure our ressies played Luton around this time last year and lost badly (4-1?). If so, then what an improvement!
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Hiltzkooler added 20:49 - Mar 31 ...either the reserve's are being coached to an unacceptable standard, the players are not of the standard required or they don't care...when my contract draws to end in my work I try very hard to ensure that I get taken on or recommended....not sure that some of the players seemed to be doing that today...
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positively_blue added 21:21 - Mar 31 I'd have thought Arran Lee-Barrett would need some time in the reserves. He's always on the bench, where's his match play practice coming from? It makes you think that they're hoping Wright can come back to take his place on the bench. I hope not, I thought Arran did a great job for us and hope he stays.
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Mark added 22:11 - Mar 31 Good point positively_blue. Surely the goalkeeper on the first team bench should always play for the reserves. As for Martin, I keep thinking back to Clegg saying they have awarded him a four year contract as that is how highly they rate him. Presumably that contract is worth about £2.5M in addition to the £1.5M that we apparently paid for him. What a disaster!
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PimsNumber1 added 22:45 - Mar 31 cant believe someone like SAF would tuck keane up like that (martin) lol
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Dolly2.0 added 01:47 - Apr 1 I presume people slagging off Richard Wright are youngsters/idiots and/or Norwich fans? A fine servant to this club and an England international. I presume none of you went to West Brom this season either. And anyone who thinks Aaron Lee Barratt is better takes loon-dom to a new level. I seriously wonder how some people on this site manage to breathe in and out without assistance.

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bennyblue added 07:42 - Apr 1 how embarrassing losing to luton where is it what is it ?i feel heart broken that a team with ipswich in the name could lose to a team ANY team from luton how low are we going too sink..sack everyone enough is enough we have had to put up with loser roy all season and now this happens..man if i wasnt such a happy person i would be depressed sack roy sack the 1st team sack the reserves sack the the bloody lot of them i mean how could we lose to luton hope none of my friends spot this result it would too much too put up with..how could we lose too luton imean it even sounds like a now where place when you translate it to gaelic .. an luitun... see what i mean

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superblueflude added 08:59 - Apr 1 Dolly, i'm not saying Barratts any better than and Wright can be back up but he's certainly no number 1 anymore. And wow west brom or let me guess last season is what you base it on? Wright lost it ever since he left us back in 2001 and then fell out of his mums loft. Shame as he's a local boy but im not blind and its time for Him to go and for fans to stop saying he's number 1 - he isn't

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bennyblue added 10:40 - Apr 1 only blondie was number 1
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peckhamblue added 13:02 - Apr 1 KEEP: EASTMAN HYAM CLARK RELEASE: YAO - not good enough AINSLEY - not good enough WRIGHT - on too much money for a second choice keeper LAMBE - not good enough, had his chance with his one year contract and much like Ainsley not really progressed enough or shown that he has true potential to become a decent player
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