Luton Town

Luton Town v Reading

Sky Bet Championship
Kenilworth Road

Tuesday 1^st November 2022

7:45pm

Journey Time to the ground: 2 hours 20 minutes.  We left home at 4:05pm and despite some heavy traffic coming into Luton were parked up at 6:25pm.  We parked in Hazelbury Crescent which is literally one minute walk from Kenilworth Road.

Ticket Price: £24

Programme Price: £3.50

Attendance: 9,620 with 926 Reading fans.

With a bit of time to kill before kick-off we took a walk down the main road and had some dinner at Gourmet Hut Luton.  We had a quick look around the ground then made our way in.  This was my first visit to Luton and it has to be the most unique ground I have visited so far.  We had tickets in the away end, the Oak Road Stand which is shared between home and away fans.  The away entrance is a set of turnstiles between two houses and once through these, there is no concourse as such and it's almost like being in someone's back garden.  You then have to walk up a metal staircase before making it into the stand.  The Oak Road Stand is a single-tiered all-seater stand.  The view from the front of the stand wasn't too bad, although there were some supporting pillars at its front.  The leg room is very tight, however this wasn't an issue as we were stood all game. 

To the left of the Oak Road Stand is Executive Boxes.  This is a tiny stand made completely of executive boxes and houses the team dug-outs at its front.  Opposite the Oak Road Stand is the Kenilworth Road End.  This is a single-tiered all-seater stand and seemed to be where the most vociferous Luton fans congregated.  To the left of the Kenilworth Road End is the Main Stand.  This is a two-tiered all-seater stand.  In between the Kenilworth Road End and the Main Stand is the David Preece Stand, a small single-tiered all-seater stand.

After witnessing a decent performance at Burnley at the weekend, I travelled to Luton in anticipation of being able to get something out of the game.  The first-half was very even between two well-matched teams.  Both sides created chances but neither goalkeeper was particularly tested.

Reading had the better of the chances in the second-half however despite Jeff Hendrick, Tom Ince and Tyrese Fornah all going close from distance neither side was able to break the deadlock and both teams had to settle for a goalless draw.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere was very good in the away end but pretty quiet in the rest of the ground.  There was noise through-out the 90 minutes from the away fans but very little from the home fans, probably as there wasn't really much to get excited about on the pitch.

Journey Time home: 2 hours.  We got back to the car at 9:40pm and decided to head the opposite way to the traffic to hit the M1.  We got home at 11:40pm after a quick detour to McDonalds on the way.

I really enjoyed my trip to Luton thanks to the uniqueness of the ground, and the entrance to the away end in particular.  It is a proper old school ground and really reminded me of going to football as a child in the 90s.  It will be a shame when Luton do move to a new ground as there are very few like Kenilworth Road left in the football league.