Luton Town 2 - West Bromwich Albion 3

Date: Saturday 14th January 2023 
Competition: Sky Bet Championship
Luton:
6.3
(3-5-2) Horvath, Bree, Lockyer, Potts, Doughty, Campbell, Clark (Watson, 81), Mpanzu (Jerome, 71), Bell, Morris (Woodrow, 71), Adebayo (Cornick, 71)
Unused subs: Isted, Burke
WBA:
7.7
(4-2-3-1) Palmer 6.9, Furlong 6.4, O'Shea 7.0, Pieters 6.9, Townsend 7.3, Molumby 7.8, Yokuslu 7.3, Wallace 7.3 (Ajayi, 84 6.8), Swift 6.6 (Diangana, 56 6.0), Phillips 6.9 (Reach, 92 5.6), Dike 6.9
Unused subs: Button, Rogic, Livermore, Gardner-Hickman
Manager: Carlos Corberán  8.4
Scorers: Adebayo (10), Morris (2); Dike (39), Molumby (65), Townsend (67)
Referee: Josh Smith 7.3
Attendance: 10,069   Home Fans 6.3   Away Fans 8.5

Brendan Clegg:

UP THE ALBION!

I absolutely loved that to the point where I considered driving around the streets of Stourbridge beeping my car horn… possibly a bit excessive for a January away win in the Championship against Luton but some wins are just special.

The lineup made total sense and we started okay but Luton took the lead with a great strike not too dissimilar to the Grady one a few years ago in the same end - shifted left footed but then cut across the ball hard and low into the bottom corner. Our Okay was probably a bit slack but it was one of those.

We should’ve equalised immediately after great work from Phillips who then put a perfect left footed cross for Swift to rise well but then header just over.

And then it was two… a free header from a set play and a great finish, it looked to me like O’Shea lost his man.

And then we were rocking for 5 minutes with Luton looking like getting a third... but we held on and then gradually managed to get hold of the game and play our stuff. If you’re gonna be 2 down, having 80 mins to have a go at turning it around is as good as it gets.

We missed some big chances in the half, Dike hitting the bar from inside the 6 yard box was one although it was encouraging that we were creating something with every attack. Eventually we got lucky with Dike making a great run and then charging the keeper to deflect it home. We kept the pressure on up to HT but couldn’t muster a 2nd.

We came out dominating the match again and I thought Corberan was right not to change it at HT and then he made a smart early sub, taking off Swift for Grady and playing Wallace through the middle to give us more pace and a bit of chaos.

I loved it. Never leave it to what-ifs!

His reward after a short period of incoherence as we adjusted was a return to dominance, relentless pressure and then Mulumby forcing the ball home for the equaliser- deserved for getting into the box.

Then rapidly after a terrific cross from Phillips on the right was met at the back post by Townsend high up the pitch to slam home.

After that we managed it well, CC made sensible subs and Luton’s big chance never came.

A massive win takes us in to the playoffs and 3rd should be our minimum target. Our manager must be attracting attention so let’s hope we can keep him.

With a tough run coming up I’d play the kids and fringe players on Tuesday... and then let’s smash Burnley!

  • Palmer - 6 little too do, no chance with goals
  • Furlong- 7 Did well, won aerial battles.
  • O’Shea - 7 Slow start but big heart, grew into it.
  • Pieters - 7 Struggled early but was calm again.
  • Townsend- 7 kept going and massive goal
  • Yokuslu - 7 Another slow starter who went in to dominate
  • Mulumby - 7 Everywhere and deserved his goal
  • Wallace - 6 Decent but not huge influence
  • Swift - 6 Useful and okay on the ball without any breakthrough
  • Phillips- 7 Was our best player on the ball today. Used it so well and looked after it.
  • Dike - 6 Getting there and another goal. 90 mins will help him but he looked gassed.
  • Diangana - 5 Still not lifting off but stayed wide.