Cambridge United vs Luton Town FC (27th Aug 2016)

PUBLISHED 17:56 27th August 2016 Hatters turn it on in super second-half show

CAMBRIDGE UNITED 0 LUTON TOWN 3 (Coulson OG 62 Marriott 64 Hylton 90+6)

Att: 5,606 (1,690)

The Hatters moved back up to second place in Sky Bet League Two with a clinical second-half performance to beat Cambridge United at the Cambs Glass Stadium this afternoon.

After surviving a tough first half against the team sitting bottom at kick-off, Nathan Jones’ side scored three times after half-time in an away game for the second time this season – after doing the same at Plymouth on the opening day – to win 3-0.

After Cambridge defender Josh Coulson turned Glen Rea’s header into his own net just after the hour, Jack Marriott scored a cracking second on 64 minutes before Danny Hylton iced the cake six minutes into time added on.

Jones has made two changes to the team that took on Leeds in midweek, with Jordan Cook and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu coming into midfield in place of Jake Gray and Jonathan Smith.

The Hatters started on the front foot and came within millimetres of opening the scoring in the third minute when Cook’s volley crashed back off the United post after keeper Will Norris could only punch Stephen O’Donnell’s cross half-clear.

In a frantic opening period, however, Cambridge captain Luke Berry twice came close to giving his side the lead, denied both times by goalkeeper Christian Walton after being set up by Piero Mingoia.

Just after quarter-hour mark, the Hatters’ passing game almost reaped reward when Jack Marriott spread the ball wide on the right to O’Donnell, whose low cut-back to the edge of the box was dummied by Mpanzu for Marriott to crack a first time shot that Norris tipped over.

Four minutes later, it was Mpanzu’s chance to slice open the Cambridge defence, latching onto a one-two with Hylton, but slipping his low shot just the wrong side of the post.

It was a terrific spell of incisive attacking play by the Town, but the hosts were still a threat at the other end and after Medy Elito had brought another save out of Walton, Jones made an early substitution.

Scott Cuthbert was summoned from the bench to replace Olly Lee, with Glen Rea moving up from centre-half to the midfield holding role, and the captain slotting into the heart of defence alongside Johnny Mullins, being handed the armband as he did so.

The skipper immediately made his presence known, winning a couple of early headers, while Cameron McGeehan – booed by the home fans but having his name sung vociferously by the near 1,700 away following – went on a run from his own half and let fly with a left-foot shot that went just over as he reached the box.

O’Donnell went into the book for what appeared to be a pull-back on Berry after the U’s skipper had initially appealed for handball against the Town right-back, so an open first half finished 1-1 in terms of yellow cards, but goalless.

Cambridge started the second half the brighter, and after a 48th-minute appeal for handball against Mullins was rightly waved away by referee David Webb, Elito stabbed a close-range effort across the six-yard box after being played in by Mingoia, and Cuthbert shepherded it out of play by the far post.

Walton had raced off his line to put the U’s attacker under pressure, and the Town stopper was commanding his area soon after to cleanly claim a corner, seconds after punching another one clear, then another header from Berry, getting on the end of a free-kick after Rea had been booked for a foul on Mingoia.

The Town made the breakthrough, against the run of play, just after hour. Cook sent a free-kick in from the right and the unmarked Rea’s header back across goal was turned into his own net by Josh Coulson.

Two minutes later it was two – and what a stunner it was. Marriott cut in from the right wing, made his way across the edge of the box and bent an absolute beauty into the top corner to double the Town’s advantage.

Suddenly looking much more certain in the game, the Hatters started to turn on the style, and in the 76th minute, Mpanzu produced a brilliant bit of skill by the right corner flag to nutmeg Adams while getting up from the ground, then finding Hylton in the box to tee up O’Donnell for a shot that flew narrowly wide.

Hylton, in the midst of a running battle with home centre-half Leon Legge, was penalised for a foul on his opponent on the edge of the Town box in the 83rd minute, but Berry’s free-kick was too high to trouble Walton.

The tireless Hylton was eventually booked for the fourth time this season for a foul out wide, but Town were now in control, with Cambridge limited to a long-range effort from Mingoia that flew over the bar.

The Town came closest to extending their lead when, in the 88th minute, Cook waltzed his way into the box but was denied close in by Norris, before Hylton and McGeehan rained follow-up efforts on the home goal.

Six minutes into time added on, Hylton, set up by Jonathan Smith, got the goal his performance deserved, tucking the substitute’s cross low into the corner of the net to seal the Hatters’ biggest ever winning margin at the Abbey Stadium.

TOWN: Walton; O'Donnell, Potts, Mullins, Rea, Lee (Cuthbert 28), Mpanzu (Smith 86), Cook, McGeehan, Hylton, Marriott (Vassell 90+3). Subs: Gray, McQuoid, King, Justin.

Yellow: O’Donnell, Rea, Hylton

CAMBRIDGE: Norris, Taylor, Adams (Gosling 80), Dunne, Legge, Mingoia, Berry, Williamson (Pigott 65), Coulson, Clark (Ikpeazu 65), Elito. Subs: Gregory (GK), Long, Dallison, Newton.

Yellows: Clark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWmdtfXR31o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_YSiJzE8R8

http://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/luton-town-cambridge-united-3275900.aspx

League Two: Cambridge United 0 Luton Town 3

A wonderful second half display from the Hatters saw them continue their superb winning record in the league at Cambridge United this afternoon.

The visitors could count themselves lucky to not be trailing in the first half, with keeper Christian Walton making three excellent saves, but from the hour mark onwards, there was only one winner.

A quickfire double sucked the life out of the hosts, who went into the game at the bottom of the table, with Josh Coulson putting through his own net, and then Jack Marriott scoring a simply sublime curler into the top corner.

From then on, United were stunted, unable to must any kind of fight back, with the coup de gras applied in stoppage time, through Danny Hylton’s composed sidefoot into the bottom corner, as Hatters made it eight league games unbeaten at the now titled Cambs Glass Stadium.

Town boss Nathan Jones had made two changes from the 1-0 defeat against Leeds United on Tuesday night, with Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Jordan Cook replacing Jake Gray and Jonathan Smith, who dropped to the bench.

Hatters threatened first and might have led on four minutes as Stephen O’Donnell’s searching cross was met by a weak punch from Will Norris as Jordan Cook acrobatically volleyed the rebound goalwards only to be denied his first goal for the club by the upright.

United, without a win in the league this season, also came close, as Piero Mingoia’s excellent right wing cross was met by Luke Berry, whose downward header took a deflection, as Walton had to readjust and make a brilliant instinctive stop.

The keeper came to the rescue once more from Berry again moments later as Town were sliced open and the winger’s close range effort saw Walton produce a wonderful reaction stop, palming the ball over.

Back came Luton though as Stephen O’Donnell’s low ball into the area was dummied by Mpanzu for Marriott to unleash a fierce shot from 20 yards that required tipping over by Norris.

Town appeared to have settled from what was an open start to the game and on 20 minutes should have been ahead after carving the home defence apart with a wonderful move.

Hylton cleverly picked out Mpanzu’s run with the outside of his foot, only for the midfielder to draw Norris, and just like Marriott had on Tuesday night against Leeds, criminally miss the target, the fourth time in three games Town had fluffed a one-on-one opportunity.

Defender Leon Legge shot well over the bar with an ambitious effort from 20 yards, as United were always fashioning decent opportunities of their own, Medy Elito collecting Ben Williamson’s cross, beating his man, only for Walton to once again get his angles spot on.

Mindful of the aerial dominance Cambridge were enjoying, Jones too action just before the half hour, with Olly Lee coming off and Scott Cuthbert taking his place, allowing Glen Rea to move into the holding role.

It paid dividends too as Cuthbert immediately repelling a long ball away from his area and barked out orders ensuring the visitors looked a lot more solid at the back from then on.

Cambridge had the better of the latter stages of the first half in terms of territory, but Hatters kept it tight, to crucially get through to the break unscathed.

With the game degenerating into a scrappy affair after the break, with neither side able to produce any real quality, Luton then took complete control with their rapid double.

First, on 63 minutes, Cook’s well flighted free kick was met by the completely unmarked Rea whose header down was diverted past his own keeper and into the bottom corner by Coulson.

Then, with Cambridge still reeling, Marriott, showed his confidence wasn’t in the least effected by Tuesday night’s misses, cutting in and from 20 yards curling a magnificent effort into the top corner, racing over to celebrate with the 1,690 travelling fans.

Luton then looked to see the game out as best they could, knowing they had inflicted enough damage on a team clearly struggling for confidence in the league this term.

They were guilty of giving away too many free kicks in dangerous areas though, but importantly, Cambridge couldn’t make them count, Berry putting the best of them over the top, with Mingoia sending another ambitions half volley well wide.

Hatters were almost out of sight in the closing seconds as Hylton fed Cook who slalomed through the hosts defence, with his toe-poke blocked by the legs of Norris.

Hylton’s rebound was charged down, and Cameron McGeehan sent his volly from the follow up flying wide too.

However, there was no such let off in time added on, when sub Smith intercepted Berry’s woeful pass, raced down the right and showed wonderful vision to pick out Hylton who coolly did the rest.

United: Will Norris, Greg Taylor, Blair Adams (Jake Gosling 78), James Dunne, Leon Legge, Piero Mingoia, Luke Berry (C), Ben Williamson (Joe Pigott 65), Josh Coulson, Max Clark (Uche Ikpeazu 65), Medy Elito.

Subs not used: David Gregory, Sean Long, Tom Dallison, Conor Newton.

Hatters: Christian Walton, Stephen O’Donnell, Dan Potts, Glen Rea, Johnny Mullins (C), Olly Lee (Scott Cuthbert 28), Jordan Cook, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu (Jonathan Smith , Cameron McGeehan, Danny Hylton, Jack Marriott (Isaac Vassell 90).

Subs not used: Craig King, James Justin, Jake Gray, Isaac Vassell, Josh McQuoid.

Bookings: Clark 33, O’Donnell 40, Rea 63, Hylton 83.

Attendance: 5,606 (1,690 Luton).

Beating Cambridge United on Saturday was the be all and end all for Hatters boss Nathan Jones, no matter what kind of performance his side could muster.

After a 2-1 defeat to Stevenage ended Luton’s unbeaten league run the previous weekend, Jones knew anything other than victory wouldn’t be good enough to get them back on track on their goal of promotion this term.

He said: “Our pre-match meeting was, I don’t care how we play, I want to win, I want to win the game.

“Because we’re now on points in terms of promotion points. We have a thing of two points a game and we’re on it,

“Now we’ve played so much better than that and not won the game, we’ve dictated games, dominated games, but I just said to them, ‘win the game.’

“Because no-one will look at your performance, no-one will look at anything else, what they will look at is where you are in the league and that was a fantastic win.”

Hatters needed a vastly improved second half performance in which to do to pick up the three points, as they were heavily indebted to keeper Christian Walton during the first period.

However, once Josh Coulson had put through his own net and Jack Marriott hammered in a glorious strike moments later, the was only one winner, with Danny Hylton’s injury time goal applying the gloss.

Jones continued: “At half time, I was delighted that we weren’t behind and I said to them ‘well done, well done for coming in level,’ because I didn’t want us to have to chase the game.

“Sometimes you need that little bit of luck (for opening goal), but it’s a worked free kick in terms of how we do it and he’s (Glen Rea) put it back into an area where we can score from, so that’s great play from him.

“Then there was a clinicalness, Jack Marriott’s goal was superb, and then sending Jonathan Smith on, another game changer, who was probably unlucky to be left out, but probably needs a few minutes, pulls a great ball back for a great finish. It was a wonderful second half performance.

“We had to grind it out, we were nowhere near our best and we had to do all the horrible things and we did them from 35 minutes onwards, but we’re just delighted.

“Three-nil away from home, these are not a bad side and they will get the results that they need.”

On just what was discussed in the changing room at half time, striker Jack Marriott said: “It’s a bit of both, it all depends on how the game’s going whether he (Jones) needs to be strong or we just need to keep doing what we’re doing and eventually break teams down.

“But we have been strong second half, think that shows our character and our team togetherness, because we’re willing to do anything for the team.

“It was a good day, it wasn’t a pretty game, but they’re the ones you’ve got to win, and to come away, with a 3-0 victory is delightful.”

Hatters boss Nathan Jones felt he had no option but to make a change of personnel during the first half of today’s 3-0 win at Cambridge United to prevent his side potentially losing the game.

Just before the half hour mark, and with visiting keeper Christian Walton having made three superb saves to keep the scores goalless, Jones took off Olly Lee for Scott Cuthbert, with Glen Rea moving out of defence into the holding role.

Cuthbert then excelled alongside Johnny Mullins, with Rea adding a solidity in front of the back four as Jones said: “It was possibly the ugliest game I have ever seen, especially first half, it was just horrible.

“We didn’t come out of the blocks, we didn’t do the basics right early on. It was a bit like York away from last year if I’m honest, where we didn’t win our battles, didn’t win our headers and I felt we needed to make a change to rectify that.

“Once we got to grips we kind of nullified what they had, but we could have been one down.

“We had some good chances, some real good chances, but they did as well. Once we picked the pace up second half, what a win away from home.

“This is a difficult place to come, I know the natives are restless but they’ll do well and they’ll beat sides here because it’s such a difficult place to come, but I thought second half we were outstanding.”

On the decision to withdraw Lee, Jones admitted the midfielder is going to have to make improvements to his game when opponents try and stop him playing.

The boss continued: “I needed someone who’s going to win headers in there, who’s going to get on seconds and is going to nullify their threat, so it was a thing on him.

“He has to get better on that because he is a wonderful footballer, but when sides put someone on him then he has to get himself in the game, and he didn’t do that.

“I felt if we didn’t do that, so I’m claiming one brilliant bit of tactical thing there as we did it to try and nullify their threat and then win the game, which we did.”

Meanwhile, when speaking about the players brought off the bench, with Jonathan Smith and Isaac Vassell introduced in the second period, Jones added: “Scott Cuthbert came on, won every header, was immense, was colossal.

“Our midget centre half was brilliant, Mullins. Glen Rea, that’s why I love that kid. If I have a kid, that’s what I want, hopefully he’s not as dull as him, but literally that’s what I want because he’s right up there and I love him.

“We ask them to be ready, they’re not subs, they’re not just going to pick up anything, they’re game changers.

“So when we need them they have to come on. We needed Scotty Cuthbert after 25-30 minutes, he came on and was immense, I needed Smudge to come on, he was superb, I also needed Vassell to come on late on, he won a few headers and relieved some pressure.

“It’s all part and parcel of the squad, we’ve had a good day today, a real good second half performance, but the win was everything.”

With Luton playing with much more confidence Mpanzu showed off some outrageous to tee up up O'Donnell, but he scuffed wide.

Town almost added a brilliant third two minutes from time when great hold-up play from Hylton saw him slip Cook into the box whose magical feet took him past several players, but reaching, he could only poke at Norris with McGeehan then firing over in the aftermath.

A brilliant second half performance was rounded off in the sixth minute of stoppage time when substitute Smith intercepted on the right, raced down the wing and teed up Hylton to sweep home Town's third.

U's: Will Norris, Greg Taylor, Blair Adams (Jake Gosling 80), James Dunne, Leon Legge, Piero Mingoia, Luke Berry (C), Ben Williamson (Uche Ikpeazu 65), Josh Coulson, Max Clark (Joe Pigott 65), Medy Elito. Substitutes not used: David Gregory, Sean Long, Tom Dallison, Conor Newton.

Hatters: Christian Walton, Stephen O'Donnell, Dan Potts, Johnny Mullins (C), Cameron McGeehan, Danny Hylton, Jordan Cook, Jack Marriott (Isaac Vassell 90+3), Glen Rea, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu (Jonathan Smith 87), Olly Lee (Scott Cuthbert 28). Substitutes not used: Craig King, Jake Gray, Josh McQuoid, James Justin.

Booked: Clark 33; O'Donnell 39; Rea 60; Hylton 86.

Referee: David Webb.

Assistant Referees: Christopher Kidd and Ravel Cheosiaua.

Fourth Official: Aji Ajibola.

Attendance: 5606 (Luton 1690)

It was a case of the good, the bad and the 'ugly' for the Hatters as an excellent second half performance saw them romp to a record 3-0 victory at Cambridge United on Saturday.

Going forward the Hatters were excellent, while for half-an-hour either side of half time the Town were poor as they were forced on to the back foot by a lively Cambridge side propping up the division.

But Luton boss Nathan Jones was delighted to see his side win 'ugly', as he said: "It was possibly the, the ugliest game I have ever seen, especially first half. It was just horrible. We didn't come out of the blocks, we didn't do the basics right early on, and it was a bit like York away last year if I'm honest, where we didn't win our battles, didn't win our headers. Once we got to grips with it we kind of nullified what they had.

"We could have been one-down, but we had some good chances, some real good chances, but they did as well. Once we got to grips and picked the pace up second half - just what a win away from home!

"It's a difficult place to come. I know the natives are restless here, but they'll do well and they'll beat sides here because it's such a difficult place to come and I thought second half we were outstanding."

He called on Town's players though to be more clinical in front of goal after Jordan Cook and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu should have given them the lead in the first half. He said: "That (Cook) was a good strike to be fair. Pelly-Ruddock was clean in and he has to show composure."

Jones also revealed that a number of clubs have been 'coveting' Town's stars, saying: "Now, we've got a great group here, that people covet, people want, people are wanting our players, but I'm saying that here's the right place for him (Mpanzu). Because if we're going to send him to the next level then that's what he needs to do.

"Because it's the first time he's been in and he hasn't quite picked the right finish. We need to do that to be clinical because that's what's going to win us games. Let's not rest on any negative, second half was outstanding."

However, he stated the club had no intention to part with any of their star players, adding: "We always get enquiries for our players because they are very good players, but we've got a strong club here, we have a fantastic board and have a real stability about us so we're a club that's hopefully moving forward and to do that we will be keeping our best players."