YOUTH POLICY PLEASES COPPELL

Stephen Hunt celebrates his goal.

Steve Coppell vowed to continue to give youth a chance in the Carling Cup after Reading reached the third round of the competition with what he called a 'refreshing' performance in the 5-1 defeat of Luton at the Madejski Stadium.

A much-changed Reading side took the field against the Football League's bottom club as Coppell made nine changes from the team that lost in the Coca-Cola Championship at Charlton at the weekend.

It included youngsters Scott Golbourne, James Henry, Jem Karacan, Julian Kelly, Shane Long and Alex Pearce.

Henry, Karacan and Pearce were all on the scoresheet and Coppell was delighted with the application of his young players.

"You have seen some young lads that have come through our system play some good football and show energy, verve and enthusiasm with it, and it is so refreshing," Coppell said.

"I love the shout 'come on Reading' when they are out there because I think it shows the boys have come through from a young age and they feel for their club. We had so many of those out there.

"People always assume I have no interest in going far in this competition, and yet the work we put in for these games is the same as for league games - we just want to get through.

"This competition provides one of the few chances for the younger players to play.

"In years gone by before play-offs and everything, the last 10 games of the season you could be in no-man's land in the middle of the table and that's when you could experiment with young players.

"You can't do that now. With 10 games to go you can be 12th in the table and still in the hunt for promotion.

"Games like this are ideal opportunities and the young lads come in and show an energy and enthusiasm which we as coaches and managers appreciate and I think the supporters appreciate."

Coppell added: "I think the younger players can see daylight at the end of the tunnel and this is part of their progression.

"We have had players out on loan at lower levels in the past but hopefully in this competition they can get a few more games."

Coppell added that Michael Duberry could be out for up to four weeks with the calf injury that forced him off after only 21 minutes.

Luton boss Mick Harford insists his players must learn from the mistakes they made at the Madejski Stadium.

"Overall it was disappointing to go out the way we did. Reading had great passion and desire and we couldn't match them," Harford said.

"We conceded a couple of goals from set-pieces but overall Reading deserved it.

"We need to learn from this display from a good, young Reading side who passed the ball around very well and we couldn't live with them at times.

"We need to learn from that. We need to learn that we can't just turn up and expect to get results. We didn't start very well and we paid the price."