Reading interim manager Noel Hunt labelled the dismissal of striker Andy Carroll in the 1-1 Sky Bet Championship draw with Luton as “harsh”.
After a drab first half, the highlight of which saw Luton’s Alfie Doughty strike a post, Reading went in front early in the second period through a near-post Carroll header.
Carroll was sent off just five minutes later, after scoring a near-identical goal but with the help of a deliberate handball. He received a second booking of the game and was sent off.
Luton made hard work of finding an equaliser but were rewarded nine minutes from time when top scorer Carlton Morris nodded in his 19th goal of the season.
“I’ve seen the incident back and Andy didn’t mean to handle it,” Hunt said. “If you go for the ball with your head, sometimes you do close your eyes and blink and lose the flight of the ball.
“There’s got to be some kind of common sense here. It’s just harsh. Where are you supposed to put your hands?
“Andy said it was accidental and he’s gutted about it. He’s hurting more than anyone.
“I suppose that we’ve got to be happy with a point at the end. We started the game really brightly and I thought that we controlled the game for the first 15 minutes.
“But then we gave away a few easy balls that caused us to drop off a bit but we addressed that at half-time.
“We went ahead with a great goal and we thought that we’d scored again. But then it got chalked off and we had a man sent off.”
Hunt said that Reading may consider an appeal against Carroll’s red card.
Luton are now guaranteed a top-six slot and manager Rob Edwards said: “It’s an unbelievable achievement and the players deserve all the credit in the world.
“They’re a bit flat in the dressing room after the draw. But after tonight, they should really be celebrating. It’s an amazing achievement.
“Of course we wanted to win the game but Reading are fighting for their lives and I’ve been really impressed with the response that Noel [Hunt] has got.
“They got a point against the best team in the league [Burnley] on Saturday and they set up really well tonight and made it extremely difficult for us.
“When they also went 1-0 up, that made it doubly difficult for us to get anything from the game.
“Overall, I’ve got no complaints and we’re happy with it.
“For a minute, I thought that Carroll’s ‘goal’ had been given. But you could see by our players’ reactions [that it was handball] and the officials got the right decision.”
