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Naismith holds his hands up for mistake that led to Reading's first goal Short backpass from Town captain is seized upon by Marriott Luton skipper Kal Naismith held his hands up for his part in Reading’s opening goal during the Hatters’ stunning 4-3 comeback victory at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday. The visitors had found themselves 1-0 up after just five minutes thanks to Jake Richards’ cool finish into the bottom corner, before a ball from the home side’s defence went over the top of Town’s back-line. New Royals signing Kyreece Lisbie appeared to be initially offside for the initial pass, but there was no flag raised, which allowed the ex-Colchester attacker to harry Naismith, who had got to the ball first. Rather than clear his lines, the captain opted to try and play the ball back to keeper Josh Keeley, but sold the Irish international short, with Jack Marriott nipping into score the first of his hat-trick and restore parity for his side. The Scotsman instantly went to the referee’s assistant, proclaiming the goal should be chalked off due to Lisbie coming back to interfere with play, but unfortunately there was nothing doing, as speaking afterwards, he said: “The first one, I would need to watch it back, as this is me just speaking after the game. "I’m happy to hold my hands up if I’m wrong, but I felt he was offside, and it wasn’t like it was from a second phase, it was five, six, seven yards away from the ball when he was chasing me. So in my mind, he’s offside, I’ll go back to the goalie instead of kicking it out for a throw-in and he’s (assistant) probably going to put his flag up. My bad, I’ve played the game long enough, smash it into the stands and then complain and see what the linesman does, so I take full responsibility for that goal.” It wasn’t the first time that Naismith has struggled against Reading, as in the home game at Kenilworth Road last term, he gave the ball away inside the penalty area for the Royals to claim a dramatic victory, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan netting a treble that day as Luton conceded twice in the closing stages. Having done so again in the opening 45 minutes, the skipper was able to come out for the second period and give a far more composed and assured outing, as Town were able to keep the threats on Keeley’s goal to a minimum. Boss Jack Wilshere said of his captain’s display: “People know what I think about Kal, Kal also knows that I’ll hold him accountable. Yes, the first goal is offside, but he has to do better with the pass back to the goalie, just get rid of it, but that being said, you can’t ever, ever question Kal’s character. He’s been through so much with this club, he loves this club so much, I can see it in his eyes. Every single day he drives the training, he drives the standards and he’s really, really important to me. He knows he’ll be frustrated of course he will, but he’ll also be proud of their response.” It wasn’t just Naismith who made errors in the first half, as after the first goal, Kasey Palmer then gave the ball away for the second, his pass straight to an opponent, which saw Jack Marriott sent away and able to run towards the box, as with Hakeem Odoffin not quick enough to close him down, he sent in a left-footer from 22 yards, Keeley also not covering himself in glory as the ball squeezed under his dive and find the bottom corner. The third saw Naismith himself pushed by Lisbie when attempting to win the ball, a foul that went unpunished, before the unmarked Marriott did the rest to make it 3-1 at the break. Although Kasey Palmer’s brace and Gideon Kodua’s last gasp strike ensure Town came away with all three points, the skipper knew Town can do far better defensively, although did put some of it down to being the occasion of the first game of the season. He said: “I can feel it in the first half, there were a bit of nerves there, that first game of the season nerves. Everyone’s excited for this season and rightly so because of last season, the fans are excited, we’re excited as players, we’re just desperate to get the first game going as we’re really looking forward to it. I thought you could see that, we had had a really good pre-season, but we were a bit too eager, a bit too nervy, making mistakes, turning the ball over. "We were just so eager at times, we went 1-0 up and I’m hoping that settles us, and then the mistake from me with the short backpass, it allows them back in it and then the game turns a little bit. There’s one or two decisions there, but it just felt we were a little bit open in that transition We’re disappointed to be 3-1 down, but the lads we don’t know when we’re beat.” Wilshere also thought that his side could have done better with every single one of Marriott’s three goals, as asked if Keeley ought to have prevented his second from going in, added: “I need to see it back. You can pick holes in all of the goals and we have to do better, there’s no denying that. You can’t give three goals away. Last year we gave their nine a hat-trick, this year we gave their nine a hat-trick, that will certainly be the message on Monday when we review it and focus going into training next week. I think all three goals you can probably say he could have done better, or he could have done better.”