Leyton Orient vs Luton Town FC (15th Oct 2016)

PUBLISHED 20:03 15th October 2016 Nathan Jones' side continued their unbeaten run with a win at Leyton Orient

Leyton Orient 1 (Palmer 79)

Luton Town 2 (McGeehan 30, Hylton 74)

Danny Hylton and Cameron McGeehan continued their fine form in front of goal as both netted one each to extend Nathan Jones’ side’s unbeaten run to six with a victory over Leyton Orient.

McGeehan grabbed the opener as he poked home from close range after half an hour, before Hylton curled home with 15 minutes left to play.

James Justin was set to start at right back, but pulled up in the warm up, with the 18-year-old being replaced by Stephen O’Donnell.

The Hatters should have been a goal down within 15 minutes, when a cross into their box wasn’t dealt with and Ollie Palmer stooped low to get his head to it from seven yards, but it went wide to the right of the goal.

Alex Gilliead’s swift turn of pace caused the hosts real problems. With 20 minutes gone, he picked the ball up in the middle of the pitch, cleverly turned three Orient players and bolted down the right.

His cross wasn’t quite as good on that occasion, as it landed on the top of the Leyton net.

Starting for the second time in the League, Gilliead played a pivotal role in earning the Town the lead. The Geordie pinched the ball from an Orient defender on the edge of the host’s box. He passed it into Marriott whose terrific turn took him around his marker and one-on-one with the keeper, he shot, it was saved by Leyton keeper Alex Cisak but he could only palm it into the path of McGeehan who notched his seventh goal of the season.

Orient weren’t too disheartened by going behind though, as immediately after the goal, they pressed deep in the Town’s territory, won the ball and had a number of crosses and shots blocked.

It was a similar story in the second half, as the hosts went close through Nigel Atangana 30 seconds after the restart.

Just after the hour mark, Gavin Massey went incredibly close for Orient, after he managed to wriggle past his marker in the Hatters box. He toe poked the ball towards goal from 15 yards, but it was deflected just wide for a corner.

Hylton clearly wasn’t content with being joint top scorer also on seven alongside McGeehan as ten minutes after Orient’s near miss, the striker notched his eighth of the season.

The ex-Oxford United striker flicked the ball onto Marriott who won the race to the ball in Orient’s half and his subsequent shot was saved, he picked it up on the right of the Leyton box and selflessly passed it to

Hylton to double the visitor’s lead.

The Hatters appeared home and hosed, but Orient pulled a goal back through Ollie Palmer whose shot bounced in off the post with five minutes of normal time to go.

That gave Orient a new lease of life as they pushed hard for the equaliser, but Town stood strong and saw out the result.

TOWN: Walton, O’Donnell, Cuthbert (c), Sheehan, Potts, Rea, Cook (Mullins 90), Gilliead (Gray 90+2), McGeehan (Smith 84), Hylton, Marriott. Subs: Banton, Vassell, King (GK)

Yellows: Hylton

ORIENT: Cisak, Hunt, Erichot, Parkes, Kennedy, Massey, Atangana (Dunne 75), Janse, Semedo, Simpson (McCallum 68), Palmer.

Subs: Sargeant, Nnomo, Bowery, Pollock, Benedicic.

Yellows: Semedo

http://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/leyton-orient-luton-town-3364191.aspx

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League Two: Leyton Orient 1 Luton Town 2

Town's leading men Cameron McGeehan and Danny Hylton both took centre stage as the Hatters returned to winning ways, heaping further misery on struggling Leyton Orient this afternoon.

McGeehan was on target midway through the first half, tapping in from close range for his seventh of the campaign, with Hylton slamming home with 15 minutes to go, making it eight for the season and double his side's lead.

Hylton did then blot his copybook somewhat after Ollie Palmer had pulled one back, picking up his fifth caution of the season, meaning Luton's leading scorer will miss next weekend's home clash with Mansfield Town.

However, the result, which saw Luton end a run of three consecutive 1-1 draws, enabled Nathan Jones' side to climb up to fourth in the table, leapfrogging Portsmouth, who held leaders Plymouth.

The visitors made three changes to their side, with Alex Gilliead, Jordan Cook and Glen Rea back in for the suspended Olly Lee, as Jake Gray and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu dropped to the bench.

Luton then had to make a late alteration to their team in the warm-up for the second time this season, as James Justin pulled his calf muscle, with Stephen O'Donnell returning at right back.

Despite appearing to settle well, Hylton curling over, it was Hatters keeper Christian Walton's goal that came under the most pressure, as first he had to claw away Sandro Semedo's cross-shot from his near post.

Walton should have been picking the ball out of his net on 12 minutes, when Gavin Massey's cross deflected perfectly into the path of Palmer, but from eight yards out, he put his diving header badly off target.

Hatters took a full 25 minutes to test Alex Cisak, with another clever free kick routine, seeing Cook pick out Cameron McGeehan as he had done at Cheltenham, the midfielder's effort palmed behind by the home stopper.

Luton turned their pressure into the lead too as on the half hour, Gilliead robbed Jay Simpson of possession inside his own half, drove forward and fed Marriott, whose shot was blocked by Cisak, the rebound falling perfectly to McGeehan who made no mistake.

O's almost had an immediately leveller, when Luton were overloaded on the left hand side, but last season's leading scorer Simpson took an age to shoot, allowing Alan Sheehan to get a crucial block in, with the danger eventually hacked away.

Marriott then went it alone, cutting in from the left flank to wind his way past three O's markers, before seeing his shot deflected over the top, while Sandro Semedo opted to go from distance, shooting weakly at Walton, allowing Luton to enter the break a goal to the good.

In the second period, Nigel Atangana and Simpson both blazed over, as did Cook for Town, before Luton almost had the second they craved on the hour mark.

Marriott was sent clear by McGeehan's raking pass and shifted the ball on to his right foot, before his low effort was tipped on to the post by Cisak, the keeper recovering to prevent Cook from turning in the rebound from a yard out too.

With the game opening up, O's came close to levelling, when no-one tracked Nicky Hunt's advance into the area, his effort deflecting off Cook to beat the wrong-footed Walton, but fortunately for Luton, fly the wrong side of the post.

O'Donnell and Sheehan had efforts from range confidently handled by Cisak, while Walton was called into meaningful action on 70 minutes with Luton the architects of their own downfall.

The keeper didn't get enough on his clearance from O'Donnell's backpass, allowing Semedo to find Palmer, with Walton turned his 20-yarder away.

Luton then did have the breathing space they required when Hylton's marvellous flick saw Marriott scamper away and despite looking like he had allowed O's to regroup, picked out his strike partner who blasted through Cisak to find the net for the third game running.

With O's heads dropping and the atmosphere turning against owner Francesco Becchetti, Luton sensed further goals as Hylton powered away to set up Gilliead, only for him to shank disappointingly wide.

That was to prove costly too as on their next foray forward, O's were somehow back in with a shout, Palmer afforded the freedom of east London to reduce the deficit with 11 minutes left.

Hylton and Semedo then saw yellow for some handbags before the restart, although the forward almost made amends of sort, driving into the box and stinging the palms of Cisak who turned over for a corner.

With Orient reduced to lumping balls into the box for sub Paul McCallum, Town, with keeper Walton looking increasingly in control, saw out the final knockings to take the points back to Kenilworth Road.

Orient: Alex Cisak, Callum Kennedy, Tom Parkes, Ollie Palmer, Gavin Massey, Nigel Atangana (Alan Dunne 76), Nicky Hunt (C), Sandro Semedo, Jay Simpson (Paul McCallum 63), Yvan Erichot, Jens Janse.

Subs not used: Sam Sargeant, Ulrich Nnomo, Jordan Bowery, Zan Benedicic.

Hatters: Christian Walton, Stephen O'Donnell, Dan Potts, Scott Cuthbert (C), Alan Sheehan, Glen Rea, Alex Gilliead (Jake Gray 90), Jordan Cook (Johnny Mullins 89), Cameron McGeehan (Jonathan Smith 83), Danny Hylton, Jack Marriott.

Subs not used: Craig King, Zane Banton, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Isaac Vassell.

Bookings: Hylton 80, Semedo 80.

Referee: Trevor Kettle.

Luton boss Nathan Jones was delighted his side got back to winning ways with a 2-1 triumph at Leyton Orient yesterday.

Although the Hatters had gone into the game five games unbeaten, three successive 1-1 draws had stalled their progress in the division somewhat, but goals from Cameron McGeehan and Danny Hylton ensured a first away league win since August 27.

Jones said: “We’re pleased with that, we’re six unbeaten, but sandwiched in with a few draws in there, so sometimes it looks like we need to get back to winning ways.

“But we’re on a good run, we beat Doncaster and have been unbeaten since.

“We won in the cup, won again today, so that’s pleasing, because we wanted not to lose touch, but just wanted to get back to winning ways and for our own form, to turn these points into wins.”

The result saw Hatters climb to fourth in the table and cut the gap on leaders Plymouth who needed a late equaliser in their 2-2 home draw with Portsmouth.

Jones continued: “Of course we’re in the mix, providing something like we don’t play anywhere near the way we can I think we’ll be in the mix, because we’ve got such a good squad, the way we work.

“But it’s nice Portsmouth and Plymouth have drawn, we’ve gone above Portsmouth, others have won around them.

“It’s important you keep your own momentum going, if you look after your own thing then we’ll finish where we should finish and where we need to finish, because I’m delighted with my group.

“It’s a tough league there’s some good sides, but we’re happy with where we are.

Hatters were roared by 1,341 supporters once more and it allowed Jones and his players to take the travelling army’s adulation at the final whistle once more, in scenes similar to last season, when Luton had triumphed 1-0 at the Matchroom Stadium.

The boss added: “It might not be a long way, but you’re probably better off going to somewhere like Grimsby than coming to east London because the traffic’s a joke.

“I can’t keep saying about our fans because it’s superlatives, the fans are outstanding, and they are brilliant, and right at the end they give you energy.

“They make me proud to be manager of this club because we’re a fantastic club and they’re the blood that runs through the veins of our club and they’re brilliant, absolutely outstanding.

“I think our owner was in there as well so he’d have been delighted, but that’s the type we’ve got here, brilliant.”

Hatters boss Nathan Jones hailed Cameron McGeehan’s ‘phenomenal’ ability to get goals for the Hatters after he was on target at Leyton Orient on the weekend.

McGeehan’s strike was his seventh of the season already, coming in just 15 games, while he bagged 14 last term too to finish as the club’s second top scorer.

The midfielder has now notched 27 goals in 93 games for the Hatters, the same amount as former striker Stuart Fleetwood, who took just five games less to reach the target,

McGeehan is also level with ex-forward Mark Stein, who did so in 107 matches, Claude Gnakpa, the Frenchman managing it in 136 games, and Lil Fuccillo, who took almost double the time, 180 appearances.

On the 21-year-old’s abililty to find the net, Jones said: “It’s incredible for a midfield player, not incredible for him, because he’s that type of guy.

“If you look at his stats it’s phenomenal, for that type of player, a midfield player, getting that many and that’s why he gets games.

“Sometimes when he doesn’t score and we win well there’s a tinge of disappointment in him, but he’ll be delighted now.”

Although Jones made two changes to his attacking midfield, with Alex Gilliead and Jordan Cook in for Jake Gray and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, he admitted it was tough to drop a player like McGeehan for those trademark runs which see him able to sniff out a goal.

He continued: That’s probably why he’s kept his place. It’s difficult to leave Cameron out, at times when we’re not fluent you look at the players we need to create fluency and that’s why I chopped and changed a little bit.

“But the thing with Cameron is he gives you goals and I love the kid, because he’s a driven, he has a desire, deep down to score goals.”

Striker Danny Hylton, who was also on target with his eighth of the campaign, recently likened McGeehan to that of a former Chelsea legend, saying: “Cam is a great player, he’s almost (Frank) Lampard-esque.

“He times his runs from midfield and he scores a lot of goals, so hopefully he’ll keep scoring a load of goals and I can score a few more.

“Then we can stay at the right end of the table and keep pushing to be where we want to be at the end.”

On his team-mate, right back Stephen O’Donnell added: “We’re a good side, we’ve got good players everywhere, it’s good to see Cameron get back on the scoresheet and hopefully he can kick on.”

Jones can’t hammer leading scorer Hylton despite another suspension

Hatters boss Nathan Jones admitted he can’t come down too hard on striker Danny Hylton despite picking up his fifth booking of the season during the 2-1 win at Leyton Orient yesterday afternoon.

The summer signing has been in superb form so far this term, netting eight goals in 12 league games to lead the Town scoring charts.

However, after putting Luton 2-0 up, Hylton then saw yellow in the 80th minute and will miss Mansfield Town’s visit to Kenilworth Road next weekend, his second ban of the campaign already.

Speaking afterwards, Jones said: “It’s frustrating and it makes you want to punch him at times, but he does what he does, he’s my main man, I love him, because he gets me goals, he leads the line, he’s tireless, he’s a nuisance, he’s the best in the league.

“That can’t tarnish an overall performance, he was magnificent.

“First half he needed to get in the game, second half he was outstanding. He was the type when I was a player you don’t relish playing against or you do because you like the challenge, someone who gives you a hard time.

“I want to hammer Danny but sometimes after the performance he puts in, it’s difficult.”

On the booking, which came when Hylton clashed with O’s winger Sandro Semedo as Luton went to kick off having seen Ollie Palmer cut the deficit 2-1, Jones continued: “That’s a frustrating thing and the frustrating thing for him was that he was saying it wasn’t him that caused it, but when the ref’s trying to book him and he’s trying to say no, sometimes it comes across in the wrong way.

“I don’t entirely know what it was for, but he’s in the moment and if he is then it will be discipline, but I’ll have to find out exactly what it is but he’s always in the mix and he’s that type of player.

“It’s hard to take that away from him because you get eight goals, he’s one of the top scorers in the league because he’s that type, but I need to curb something, because, at least now, after this game, we’ve got a bit of respite as he’s got five bookings to get, but he’s already missed two games through suspension at the moment and I don’t want him to miss any more.”

The caution was dished out by experienced official Trevor Kettle, who has long since incurred the wrath of Hatters fans for his dismissal of Sol Davis at Stoke City in 2007.

However, Jones added: “He came to me, not me to him, to be fair, he was explaining and I thought Trev did very, very well.

“I marked him highly at Cheltenham as I thought he did very well and today I thought he did excellently.

“He has that thing about him, it’s like he wants to be the main man and sometimes he has that aura.

“When he comes away, you know you’re going to get a proper performance from him as he doesn’t really care about anything, the crowd, managers or anything.

“He reffed it very, very well, he explained why he did it and I can understand it.”

Leyton Orient 1 Luton Town 2

The masked menace strikes again. In every aspect this Luton win over Leyton Orient was another classic day at the office for Danny Hylton.

The striker – still sporting the face furniture to protect his broken cheekbone – scored his eighth of the season to see Town to to their first League

Two win in four games, but the man is a yellow card waiting to happen and he got himself booked in bizarre circumstances. He will now miss the Mansfield game for collecting five cautions already this term.

It had all been going so well for the forward and the Hatters before the 79th minute. Cameron McGeehan – who celebrated the victory by rushing off after the game to watch Justin Bieber warble his way through at concert at The O2 – notched his seventh of the campaign with a first half strike and Hylton doubled the lead in the 75th minute. Jack Marriott was instrumental in both goals.

But then, from a position of comfort, Luton ensured their wait for a clean sheet stretched to an eighth straight game as Ollie Palmer tucked in off the post. It was a soft goal to give the O's.

But, to make matters worse, as the Hatters lined up for the restart, Hylton got involved in a scuffle between McGeehan and Sandro Samedo and found his way into referee Trevor Kettle's notebook.

Boss Nathan Jones, knowing what that meant, was pulling his hair out on the touchline, but after the final whistle he pushed the reluctant frontman forward to take the applause of the 1,341 travelling Town faithful.

They didn't mind about his misdemeanour, they were busy chanting "Nathan Jones' Barmy Army". It all had a familiar feel to last term's celebrations at Brisbane Road.

There were four changes from last weekend's lacklustre draw against Crewe with right back Stephen O'Donnell a late replacement for James Justin, who had been named on the team-sheet, but injured his calf in the warm-up. Also returning were Alex Gilliead, Glen Rea and Jordan Cook came into the side at the expense of Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Jake Gray (both on the bench) and Olly Lee.

Keeper Christian Walton, back in a Luton shirt after making his England Under-21 debut on Tuesday, was called into action early on clawing a Semedo cross-cum-shot out from under his crossbar, before a big let-off when Palmer's diving header went wide from eight yards out.

Luton were set up to play on the counter and that's how the opener came. Gilliead, who'd earlier hit the top of the bar with a cross, picked the pocket Jay Simpson midway into Orient's half, burst forward and set up Marriott, who pirouetted and poked what looked to be his fourth of the season. Instead Cisak saved and presented McGeehan with the easiest tap-in of his life.

Luton nearly made it 2-0 with a similar chance just before the hour. Marriott chased McGeehan's a ball over the top and cut inside the penalty area, but his shot was tipped onto the post by Cisak and the keeper did enough to deter Cook on the rebound.

At the other end, Walton had little to do but still found himself acrobatically beating away Palmer's long range blast. That memory was quickly overtaken by Hylton's winner.

The O's must have thought they'd averted danger after the striker's flick set Marriott free. Yvan Erichot made the saving tackle but the young Hatter found his strike partner who blasted home.

Soon after it should have been 3-0. Hylton played in Gilliead but he shanked his shot wide and Orient went up the other end and scored.

It was a double blow for Luton as Hylton's went from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde at the restart, though.

Full credit to the forward from there though. He conducted himself in the perfect way afterwards, with some canny forwards play which helped take the sting out of any potential late Orient surge. He even saw a shot palmed over by Cisak.

He'll be missed next week, there's no masking that.

Leyton Orient: Cisak, Kennedy, Parkes, Palmer, Massey, Atangana, Hunt (Dunne, 76), Semedo, Simpson (McCallum, 63), Erichot, Janse

Unused subs: Sargeant, Nnomo, Bowery, Pollock, Benedicic

Luton Town: Walton, Potts, Cuthbert, McGeehan (Smith, 83), Hylton, Cook (Mullins, 88), Marriott, Gilliead (Gray, 90+2), Rea, O'Donnell, Sheehan

Unused subs: King, Banton, Mpanzu, Vassell

Referee: Ollie Yates

Attendance: 5,471 (1,341)

Seven goals in 15 appearances would be incredible for a midfield player, but not Cameron McGeehan, according to Luton manager Nathan Jones who hailed the young Hatter's drive to score after Saturday's 2-1 League Two win at Leyton Orient.

The 21-year-old has a knack for arriving in the box at the perfect time and he showcased his poacher's instinct to tap in after Jack Marriott's 30th minute twist and shot was saved by Alex Cisak.

That maintained McGeehan's ratio of almost a goal every two games this term, which is only currently bettered by Danny Hylton's eight in 14 games, after the striker scored the decisive goal on Saturday.

The manager waxed lyrical about the forward on Saturday – even after he earned a one-match suspension for his fifth booking of the season – but he was equally effusive about the former Norwich youth's strike record.

"It's incredible from midfield but it's not incredible for him because he's that type of guy. If you look at his stats, he's phenomenal – a midfield player getting that many and that's why he plays games," said Jones.

While Luton's boss has rotated his engine room men – with Alex Gilliead, Jordan Cook and Glen Rea coming in against Orient – McGeehan has been one of the first names on the team sheet for every single league game so far.

"It's difficult to leave Cameron out," said Jones, adding: "At times, when we're not fluent, you look at the players that we need to create fluency and that's why I chopped and changed a little bit. But the thing with Cameron is, he gives you goals.

"I love the kid because he's driven. He has a desire, deep down, to score goals, and sometimes if he doesn't score and we win well, there's a tinge of disappointment in him. But he'll be delighted."

Less among the goals so far this term has been last season's top scorer Marriott. The striker has just three to his name so far, but he got both assists at the weekend to set Town on their way to a first victory in four league games, extending their unbeaten run to six games.

The forward tweeted that he was 'buzzing with a couple assists' and Jones said: "Jack will score goals because he gets in those positions. He's unlucky, it was a great strike, an improvised finish and that's why the keeper has spilled it, because it's such an improvised, quick finish and then Cameron is following up.

"He's following up after that and he's created Danny's. Maybe he could have pulled the trigger himself but he's done really well. He was a menace all day and, my front two, I'm very happy that they're mine."

Luton manager Nathan Jones joked that Danny Hylton makes him want to punch the striker at times - but that goals make up for his wild side after he got himself in hot water but netted the winner against Leyton Orient.

The frontman notched his eighth of the campaign in the 2-1 League Two win, but he got himself booked after the O's halved the deficit late on, by clashing with Sandro Semedo who had originally squared up to Town's opening goalscorer Cameron McGeehan.

Referee Trevor Kettle took Hylton's name despite protestations and that will see him suspended for next week's clash against Mansfield, for accumulating five cautions so far this term.

"The frustrating thing for him is because it wasn't him that caused it," Jones said, adding: "The ref was trying to book him and he was trying to explain and sometimes it comes across in the wrong way.

"It's frustrating and he makes you want to punch him at times, but then he does what he does. He's my main man and I love him because he gets me goals, he leads the line, he's tireless, he's a nuisance, he's the best in the league."

Asked what Hylton had done to find his way into another referee's notebook, Jones said: "I don't entirely know what it's for but he's in the moment and if it is then it'll be ill-discipline. I have to find out exactly what it is but he's always in the mix, he's that type of player. It's hard to take that away from him because you get eight goals. He's one of the top scorers in the league because he's that type.

"I need to curb something but at least now, after this game, he'll get a bit of respite because he's got five bookings to get [another suspension]. He's already missed two games through suspension already and I don't want him missing any more."

Jones had no qualms with Mr Kettle, however, but said: "It's frustrating for us and I want to hammer Danny but sometimes, after the performances he puts in it's difficult.

"That can't tarnish an overall performance. He's led the line, he was outstanding and he would have been the type, when I was a player, that you don't relish playing against."

Luton Town boss praised referee Trevor Kettle's handling of Danny Hylton's caution in Saturday's 2-1 win over Leyton Orient – even if the yellow card means that the striker will miss the Mansfield match through suspension.

The frontman scored his eighth of the season at Brisbane Road to confirm a first triumph in four League Two games, extending their unbeaten run to six matches, and moving them up to fourth in the division.

Yet, Hylton got involved in a scuffle after Ollie Palmer scored an Orient consolation, earning his fifth caution of the campaign so far, which will see Town's top scorer serve a one-match ban this weekend.

Hylton stepped into a heated exchange with Cameron McGeehan and Sandro Semedo and protested his innocence unsuccessfully to Mr Kettle.

But the official – unpopular with Luton fans since sending off former Hatters Sol Davis (2007) and Chris Martin (2009), the latter in a controversial penalty awarded to Bradford – did immediately explain his decision to Jones on the touchline.

"He came to me, not me to him, to be fair," said the Luton boss of the referee who had not originally been assigned the Luton game at the weekend, but was named on the team sheet instead of Ollie Yates.

"I thought Trev did very, very well. I marked him very highly after Cheltenham because he refereed the game very well. Today [Saturday] he did excellently but he has that thing about him. Sometimes he's wants to be the main man and sometimes he has that aura.

"When he comes away you know you're going to get a proper performance from him because he doesn't really care about anything; the crowd, managers, or anything.

"He explained why he did it and I can understand. It's frustrating for us and I want to hammer Danny, but the performances he puts in, it's sometimes difficult to."

Keeper Christian Walton said of Hylton's indiscretion: "It comes down to discipline, really, but he's been a massive part of our season so far and he will continue to be one of our better players. It is going to be a big miss but we've got others that can step in as we've got such a brilliant squad here, so I think anyone would be ready to take his place."

Jones insisted that Hylton's caution shouldn't tarnish the goalscorer's overall performance as his side rediscovered the winning formula.

He said: "We're pleased with that, we're six unbeaten, but sandwiched in with a few draws, so sometimes it looks like we need to get back to winning ways, but we're on a good run, we beat Doncaster and have been unbeaten since.

"We won in the cup [EFL Trophy], won again today [Saturday], so that's pleasing, because we wanted not to lose touch [with the top three], but just wanted to get back to winning ways and, for our own form, to turn these points into wins."

The victory moved Luton up to fourth in the league table and Jones added: "It's nice that Portsmouth and Plymouth have drawn, we've gone above Portsmouth, others have won around them.

"It's important you keep your own momentum going, if you look after your own thing then we'll finish where we should finish and where we need to finish, because I'm delighted with my group.

"There are some good sides in the league, it's a tough league, but we're happy with where we are."