Exeter City vs Luton Town FC (19th Dec 2015)

PUBLISHED 17:07 19th December 2015 Last-gasp Benson gives Hatters win on the road

EXETER CITY 2 - 3 LUTON TOWN

Paul Benson’s 100th-minute winner handed the Hatters a dramatic late victory in a thrilling, topsy-turvy encounter in their first game since John Still’s departure.

The experienced striker was in the right place at the time in the 10th minute of added time to seal a remarkable win on the road and end a run of four straight defeats.

Goals from Cameron McGeehan – from the penalty spot – and Danny Green had the Hatters 2-0 in front at the break.

But hosts Exeter, who had only lost once at home this season before kick-off, pulled a goal back with 20 minutes left through Tom Nichols’ free-kick. And Paul Tisdale’s side completed the comeback when Alex Nicholls headed home with seven minutes left to play.

The Grecians had dominated the second period in their bid to get back on level terms and looked as though they would go on and condemn the Town to another defeat – but Benson struck at the death to swing the three points into the Hatters’ hands.

It all began with caretaker boss Awford making three changes to the side that lost 4-3 to Northampton last weekend.

Jake Howells returned to the starting XI at left-back for his first appearance since the final game of the last season – and his 318th in total. Scott Cuthbert partnered Magnus Okuonghae at centre-half and McGeehan started in central midfield. A knee injury ruled out Jonathan Smith and a hamstring injury meant Luke Wilkinson also sat out.

The Town will line-up 4-2-3-1, with Olly Lee and Alex Lawless sitting in central midfield behind Green on the left, McGeehan in a central role and Craig Mackail-Smith on the right. Benson led the line.

And the Hatters were the first team to threaten when, after three minutes, Green strode forwards and was upended on the edge of the box but his free-kick hit the Exeter wall.

That chance was as good as it got for the Town for a good 25 minutes, though, as the home side dominated. The Town had Mark Tyler to thank for a wonderful one-handed save on 12 minutes when denying Nicholls from 12 yards. Joel Grant’s low cross found Nicholls alone in the box but Tyler sprung to his right to keep out the Grecian forward’s effort.

As the hosts continued to press, Grant slammed a low shot wide two minutes later and, on 17 minutes, Lawless did well to stand in the path of a goal-bound shot from Jamie Reid.

Tyler then showed excellent handling of a slippery ball on a greasy pitch to cling onto a low shot from Grant on 23 minutes and, a minute later, the Town number one palmed a shot from Nichols around the post.

But then the game swung in the Town’s favour on the half-hour mark. Mackail-Smith sent Sean Long haring into the box but the right-back was upended by Craig Woodman. McGeehan drilled the resultant penalty low into the bottom corner. It was the midfielder’s ninth goal of the season.

With Town tails up, Mackail-Smith fired over a minute later but it got better for the Hatters on 35 minutes when Green made it 2-0. Long was again the creator, swinging in a high cross from the right which found the unmarked Green and the winger slammed a first-time shot through Exeter keeper Bobby Olejnik.

Behind, Exeter pushed the Town back for a reply before the break with Woodman testing Tyler on 44 minutes before the same home player drove a dangerous low cross into the box that thankfully evaded everyone in the penalty area.

The Hatters started the second half brightly and Benson sent a glancing header into the arms of Okejnik five minutes after the restart.

Exeter briefly threatened from a corner from which Reid sent a header straight at Tyler but the Hatters almost made it 3-0 with two chances inside 60 seconds on 54 minutes. Woodman gifted possession to Mackail-Smith down the right and his cross was met by McGeehan whose effort was deflected behind. From the resultant corner whipped in by Green from the right, Benson thumped a header inches wide of the post.

Back came Exeter, however, and the hosts pushed the Town for long spells only to see the Hatters defence to hold firm. Howells, however, who had done well in his first appearance since May, needed to be substituted with 25 minutes left after clearing the ball at the back-post. He was replaced by Scott Griffiths.

However Exeter’s pressure finally paid off with 20 minutes to go when Tisdale’s side halved the deficit. Cuthbert conceded a free-kick on the edge of the area and Nichols struck a firm effort up and over the wall and past the dive of Tyler.

Back in the game the home side were now looking dangerous going forward. Tyler held a shot from distance but, with seven minutes of the 90 left the Grecians levelled. Cuthbert did well to defend a dangerous cross but, from the left-wing corner, Nicholls flashed a header home from six-yards.

At 2-2 there now seemed only one winner and Tyler needed to be alert on 87 minutes when parrying an effort from Nichols away as Exeter went for the jugular.

Nine minutes were added on by the officials following an earlier stoppage that had seen one of the assistant referees replaced, and in the second minute of those, substitute Jack Marriott came close to fashioning a chance before home sub Clinton Morrison was thwarted by Tyler at the other end as the game breathlessly raced from end-to-end.

The Town then spurned a wonderful chance to win it on 94 minutes when they countered only for Marriott to shoot wide under pressure having been found by Josh McQuoid.

You felt that was the final chance of a topsy-turvy game but this is Luton Town, remember. In the 100th minute, Marriott chased a lost cause down the right to force a mistake out of Woodman and his cross found Benson. There seemed a moment’s hesitation from keeper Olejnik and that gave the striker enough of a split second to react to the loose ball and bundle it beautifully over the line.

There was no way for Exeter after that and the Hatters could celebrate one of their latest-ever victories to end a dramatic week off the pitch on a high on it.

Town: Tyler; Long, Howells (sub Griffiths 65), Okuonghae, Cuthbert; Lawless, Lee; Green (sub Marriott 89), McGeehan, Mackail-Smith (sub McQuoid 72); Benson.

Subs: Musonda, Justin, Guttridge, Justham.

Attendance: 3,777, including 416 very happy Hatters.

http://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/article/gallery-exeter-2-3-town-2859921.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS6waOpvH40

League Two: Exeter City 2 Luton Town 3

A moment of huge controversy in the 100th minute saw Luton Town caretaker manager Andy Awford enjoy victory in his first game in charge at Exeter City this afternoon.

With the nine minutes of injury time virtually up, and the scores level at 2-2, second half substitute Jack Marriott escaped on the right flank and delivered a cross that appeared to be deflected into keeper Bobby Olejnik’s gloves.

However, the ball and keeper were bundled into the net by Paul Benson, who after a nervous look at the officials, wheeled away in celebration.

Understandably, the home fans and players were up in arms as the goal was allowed to stand, especially as City had fought back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 and over the 90 minutes, had been by and large the better side.

Huge credit must be paid to Luton’s determination and back-line though, in particular returning captain Scott Cuthbert, who was excellent throughout, making a host of crucial interventions, as without them, Hatters would undoubtedly have made it five straight defeats.

Awford, who had promised a tweak to the side after taking over from John Still on Thursday, delivered exactly that.

Jake Howells returned from the wilderness to start his first game after not playing at all this season, while Cuthbert and Cameron McGeehan were back as Scott Griffiths dropped to the bench, while Luke Wilkinson (hamstring) and Jonathan Smith (knee) missed out.

The visitors had a fine chance early on as Danny Green won possession and raced away, only to brought down on the edge of the box. He sent the resulting free kick disappointingly into the wall, with Alex Lawless volleying the rebound tamely over.

Exeter should have had the lead on 12 minutes though when a poor clearing header from Cuthbert saw the ball fed out to Joel Grant, who delivered for Alex Nicholls on the penalty spot, as his forced Tyler to palm away magnificently.

Grant was then left in acres of space to have a shot deflected wide, while the hosts impressed as they had done against Luton on both occasions last season, building from the back and always trying to prise an opening through some intelligent passing.

The sparse visiting supporters were reduced to sarcastic ole’s as Hatters eventually enjoyed a spell of possession, working their up the pitch as Howells cross was blocked.

However, City clearly looked the more likely, Tyler handling well from Grant and then clawing aside the same player’s low daisycutter.

Somehow, the game completely changed on its head after half an hour as a good passing move by Hatters, saw Sean Long have his heels clipped in the area by Craig Woodman for a penalty.

There was some needless argy bargy before the kick was taken as McGeehan claimed the ball from Green who had scored from the spot against Northampton last week.

However, the midfielder showed no signs of nerves, confidently beating Bobby Olejnik into the bottom corner.

The goal saw confidence immediately lifted though and in the flash of an eye, Luton had doubled their lead as Long dinked over a cross that Green volleyed through the legs of Olejnik for a second Luton could scarcely believe.

Hatters soon got back into the their pattern of having to soak up the pressure from either flank, as the defence stood firm, just, with Cuthbert, Okuongheahe and Long all making last-ditch clearances, while Tyler palmed Woodman’s blast wide.

Grant then wasted a glorious chance minutes before half time, as the ball dropped to him 16 yards out, but he could only balloon over.

In the second period, Hatters started well, as they began to look more confident when in possession, Benson looping a header into Olejnik’s gloves.

Jamie Reid shot over for the hosts, but Luton then came close to a third as Woodman’s back pass was seized upon by Mackail-Smith, who teed up McGeehan for an effort that was deflected behind.

Green’s resulting corner was powered over by an unmarked Benson as the hosts mounted some pressure, forcing three corners, with Luton’s defence repelling them all successfully.

Town’s back-line was dealt a blow when Howells took a knock while clearing and had to be replaced by Griffiths, as from then on, the hosts were always in the ascendancy.

Exeter had one back on 71 minutes as Grant drove forward from midfield and was eventually brought down 20 yards from goal.

Tom Nichols stepped up and almost Cristiano Ronaldo-style side-footed it up and over the wall, beating Tyler.

Luton were fortunate not to concede a penalty almost straight from the restart as a cross appeared to strike Griffiths’ hand and fly behind, but nothing was given.

Jordan Tillson opted to shoot at Tyler from range, but the incessant pressure paid off with seven minutes to go as an excellent corner was swung in and Nicholls dived in bravely to head beyond Tyler, clashing heads with Cuthbert in the process.

With Luton having frittered away yet another 2-0 lead, there looked to be only one winner as Nicholls’ right footed volley was parried up by Tyler and blocked behind for a corner.

Hatters had made a bold substitution though with Jack Marriott on for Green, as with nine minutes of stoppage time, due to a linesman injury, he had a marvellous chance.

After fellow replacement Josh McQuoid burst away from his own half, Marriott took his pass and was denied by a superb save from the onrushing Olejnik.

However, Marriott had redemption of sorts moments later, setting up Benson’s last-gasp winner, as Hatters ended a run of four successive defeats, climbing to 13th in the table.

Grecians: Bobby Olejnik, Craig Woodman, Matt Oakley (Ollie Watkins 59), Lee Holmes, Aaron Davies, Alex Nicholls, Jordan Moore-Taylor, Jamie Reid (Clinton Morrison 59), Tom Nichols, Jordan Tillson, Joel Grant.

Subs not used: James Hamon, Jamie McAllister, Manny Oyeleke, Tom McReady, Kyle Egan.

Hatters: Mark Tyler, Sean Long, Jake Howells (Scott Griffiths 65), Magnus Okuonghae, Scott Cuthbert, Alex Lawless, Olly Lee, Danny Green (Jack Marriott 89), Cameron McGeehan, Craig Mackail-Smith (Josh McQuoid 71), Paul Benson.

Subs not used: Elliot Justham, James Justin, Luke Guttridge, Frankie Musonda.

Booked: Grant 32, McGeehan 90.

Attendance: 3,777 (416 away).

Referee: Andy Davies.

Hatters MOM: Scott Cuthbert. Captain was superb at the back in clearing his lines.

Hatters caretaker manager Andy Awford felt Paul Benson’s controversial last-gasp winner against Exeter City yesterday was a legitimate goal.

The veteran striker looked to have bundled both the ball and home keeper Bobby Olejnik over the line after Jack Marriott’s cross was deflected goalwards in the final second of stoppage time.

However, on watching the television replay back, the forward appears to have clearly won the ball fairly, which was what Awford had felt on first reflection afterwards.

He said: “I think it’s a goal, I’ve just had a look on the video. Paul wasn’t sure whether the goalie had two hands on it or not and I think it’s one of them, sometimes you get, sometimes you don’t.

“We’ve had a quick look at it and I think it’s a legitimate goal. We’ve had enough hard luck stories this season, so we’ll take anything that comes our way.”

Grecians boss Paul Tisdale admitted he hadn’t seen the incident properly that led to his side suffering only a second home defeat in the league this term.

He said: “I had no view of the goal, the ball was in the back of the net whichever way you spin it and I’m more concerned to look at the 30 seconds that lead up to that point, the process towards that goal.

“That’s the only thing I can look back on; what the referee decides goes in I honestly don’t know. I couldn’t see from where I was, but at the end of the day, the ball was in the back of the net and it’s their winner.”

It was the same for Hatters skipper Scott Cuthbert too, who said: “To be honest, I was just praying it was going to go over the line as I didn’t have a good view at the halfway line.

“I just saw Benno running off and I was absolutely delighted, so I wasn’t even looking at the ref, just concentrating on that and was absolutely delighted we scored.”

Meanwhile, the returning Jake Howells, who had been substituted before the winner, felt Luton deserved a bit of luck this term after conceding so many late goals themselves.

He added: “For me, I had a few people standing in the way on the bench and to be honest, I couldn’t move my legs as I was cramping up.

“I saw everyone celebrating and I was so happy just to get three points, it’s along way, it’s a tough game and they’re a good side.

“It was about time though, and was nice to get a bit of luck on our side. I’ve been watching games most of the season and we haven’t been so lucky, conceding last minute or little things like that, but it was our turn today and I’m over the moon.”

Exeter City 2 Luton Town 3

Paul Benson bundled in a controversial 100th minute winner straight out of the 1950s as Luton began life without John Still with a new hope.

A point against a classy Exeter outfit would have been remarkable – even though they took an unlikely smash-and-grab 2-0 lead at half time through a Cameron McGeehan penalty and a Danny Green five minutes apart.

But victory – their first in five League Two games – sent 416 drenched Hatters fans behind the goal into delirium that they'd last sampled a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away.

Tom Nichols and Alex Nicholls drew the Grecians level and, as has been the case for much of this season, the fear was that Luton would collapse again. They didn't.

Luton's Jack Marriott missed a late chance and that looked that for Town, but then Benson put ball and City keeper Bobby Olejnik over the line to snatch it in the dying seconds of a mammoth period of injury time.

The Hatters – led by caretaker Andy Awford after boss Still was sacked on Thursday – had no right to win this game such was the defence versus attack battle that raged at St James' Park, but then they've had such atrocious last-gasp luck this term, something had to give. It just so happened it came after their manager was sacked on Thursday.

This was the kind of soldiers of fortune stuff that hadn't seemed possible under the old boss, but the backline of Scott Cuthbert, Magnus Okuonghae, Sean Long and a lesser-spotted Jake Howells were exemplary in their repellence of Exeter for 71 minutes, before a mad, mad ending.

How much of that was down to luck or design is hard to tell as Awford only had two days to implement his ideas. Certainly, his first team selection was less the tweak, suggested in the week, and more a real rethink, with Howells brought in from the cold, Cuthbert and McGeehan returning, while Alex Lawless was deployed in a different position for the fourth consecutive game, given a central midfield berth.

Green had an early opportunity that went begging but it was all City from there and they should have punished a Cuthbert mistake but goalkeeper Mark Tyler got his captain out of jail with a magnificent sawing paw from Nicholls.

Joel Grant, Jamie Reid and Lee Holmes had Town chasing shadows, so it came as some surprise when Town took the lead. For 30 minutes their contribution had been so nervous they'd barely ventured into the Grecians' half, but then Craig Mackail-Smith and Long linked up, the latter getting tripped to win a penalty.

McGeehan picked the ball up and had to fend off Green for the right to take it but he tucked the spot-kick in the bottom corner.

Green needn't have been too grumpy because four minutes later he thumped in at the back post after a deep cross from Long. It was only visitor's second effort and increased the goalscorer's record to five goals in ten League Two starts.

The hosts, on the other hand, bombarded Luton, trying to cut the deficit before the half time break, but they couldn't strike back.

For a while in the second half the chances continued to fall Luton's way. Paul Benson header aimed two headers at goal either side of a blocked McGeehan effort, but then came the Exeter onslaught.

Town's backline had closed the blast doors but they were eventually prised open by Nichols's fabulous free-kick – Cristiano Ronaldo-esque in its execution.

The resistance broken, and the inevitability of City's pressure told when Nicholls thumped an 83rd minute header beyond Tyler. Cuthbert, so dogged until then, was hurt in the corner kick melee and his treatment and a linesman replacement added nine nervous minutes to the end of a contest, which looked to be swinging only Exeter's way.

Tyler produced a brilliant stop from the goalscorer when play resumed but with City committed forward five minutes into injury time Luton substitute Marriott had a golden to win it on a rare breakaway.

At that stage a point would have been manna from heaven, but then Benson popped up with his third goal in two games and, for once, luck befell Luton.

The force awakens? Perhaps not, but it's a start.

Exeter: Olejnik, Woodman, Oakley (Watkins, 60), Holmes, Davies, Nicholls, Moore-Taylor, Reid (Morrison, 60), Nichols, Tillson, Grant Unused subs: Hamon, McAllister, Oyeleke, McCready, Egan

Luton: Tyler, Long, Howells (Griffiths, 65), Okuonghae, Cuthbert, Lawless, Lee, Green (Marriott, 89), McGeehan, Mackail-Smith, Benson Unused subs: Justham, Musonda, Justin, McQuoid, Guttridge

Referee: Andy Davies

Attendance: 3,777 (416)

Caretaker manager Andy Awford said Luton were due some luck this season as Paul Benson scored a controversial 100th minute winner to beat Exeter 3-2 and claim their first victory in five League Two games.

The Academy and Development Manager took charge of the team on Thursday after John Still was sacked after a run of four straight defeats which had left them in 17th place.

His side took an unlikely 2-0 lead at St James' Park despite being outplayed in the first half when Cameron McGeehan scored from the spot for his ninth of the season and Danny Green notched another soon after.

The Hatters held out until the 71st minute when Tom Nichols scored a wonderful free-kick and when Alex Nicholls drew the Grecians levels 11 minutes later momentum looked like it would deliver another dose of heartbreak for the visitors.

Nine extra minutes were played after an injury to Scott Cuthbert and a linesman replacement but right at the death Benson bundled keeper Bobby Olejnik and the ball into the net.

City were furious, but Awford said: "I think it's a goal. I'm glad I had my glasses on otherwise I wouldn't have seen it. I think it's a goal, I've just had a look at it on the video.

"Paul wasn't sure whether the goalie had two hands on it or not. It's one of them; sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't. We had a quick look at it and we think it's a legitimate goal.

"We've had enough hard luck stories this season so we'll take anything that comes our way."

Under Still, Luton had conceded decisive late goals on five occasions in the league and their nine defeats in the previous 21 games had cost him his job, just a year-and-a-half after guiding them back to the Football League.

"I've watched a lot of games this year, obviously, and especially early in the season we seemed to have heartbreak at the end of the game, so maybe it has turned a little bit and maybe we deserved that little bit of luck for what went on earlier in the season," Awford said.

"We've had our fair share of hard luck stories over the season, so may it has evened itself out a little bit. I think, for the effort, the application and the discipline that the players showed, I think they deserved that result."

Awford insisted in the week he'll be taking his stewardship of the first team game-by-game and he joked: "The missus isn't happy, I was supposed to go Christmas shopping and to an event. She's used to it.

"Once the club asked me to step in on a temporary basis you have to do what you have to do. We've all pulled together after a difficult week. It's a fantastic result and a good end."