Luton Town FC vs Middlesbrough (2nd Nov 2021)

Report | Luton Town 3-1 Middlesbrough

The Hatters came from a goal down at half-time to return to winning ways, and the Championship play-off places, in emphatic style against Middlesbrough under the Kenilworth Road tonight.

Three goals in five second-half minutes turned the game on its head as the Sky cameras got another super show from skipper Sonny Bradley, scoring his fourth Hatters goal, all of which have come in live matches, with Elijah Adebayo and Harry Cornick joining in too.

Manager Nathan Jones made five changes to the side that lost 2-0 at Preston on Saturday, Elijah Adebayo returning to the starting line-up after missing out at the weekend, partnered with Harry Cornick up top.

Reece Burke and Dan Potts returned to defence, the latter starting for only the second time this season.

Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu was joined in midfield by Henri Lansbury and Gabe Osho, with the former Reading player featuring for the first time since the 5-0 win against Coventry City.

The Hatters started brightly, James Bree getting to the byline in the opening two minutes, before crossing from wide on the right in the 15th minute, after being set up by Mpanzu at the end of a smart Town move.

It came to nothing, however, with Boro keeper Luke Daniels gathering at his near post and setting the visitors immediately on the attack for the opening goal, with Andraz Sporar breaking down the right and crossing for teenager Josh Coburn to slide in and finish from close range.

Cornick tried to lead a response, cutting in from the left and bending a 25-yarder towards Daniels' goal, but it was always rising and never likely to trouble the visiting keeper.

Potts and Bree were both quickly into referee Tim Robinson's notepad, for fouls on Isaiah Jones and Onel Hernandez, but it took a while for another opening to arrive, Cornick again trying his luck from the left side of the area, another attempted curler deflected behind for a corner.

Boro striker Matt Crooks was next into the book, for a foul on Adebayo, but it was Cornick again who had the Town's next chance to draw level, firing a volley agonisingly across the face of goal on 41 minutes, before a long throw of his caused havoc in the first minute of added time.

Burke flicked on and Bree and Adebayo arrived at virtually the same time at the far post, the former's stabbed effort deflecting off the top scorer's chest and heading goalwards, only for Boro captain Jonny Howson to hook it clear off the line.

Jones resisted the temptation to change anything at half-time, but introduced Fred Onyedinma on the left in place of Potts in the 55th minute.

Within two minutes the Hatters were level, and it was captain Bradley, who loves playing in live Sky matches, who got it. Bree delivered the right-wing corner and the centre-half headed past Daniels, with the aid of a deflection, for his first goal of the season.

It was his fourth for the club, all of which have come in live matches, since his first in the 3-3 opening night draw with Boro in August 2019.

By the hour mark, the Town were ahead and it was Adebayo, at the second attempt after his first had been blocked and Mpanzu kept the ball alive on the edge of the box, who slotted the ball beyond Daniels into the bottom corner of the net.

And two minutes later it was three, as Cornick raced onto Marcus Tavernier's loose back pass and clear of the Boro defence to finish coolly past the Boro keeper, again into the bottom corner, for his seventh of the season.

Cornick left the pitch to a standing ovation with ten minutes left, replaced by Danny Hylton who was making his 150th appearance for the club.

The crowd reeled off the talismanic striker's songs, then gave man-of-the-match Adebayo a standing ovation as he was taken off, as the Hatters saw the win out to move up to sixth in the table ahead of Saturday's visit of Stoke.

Goals:

Town: Bradley 57, Adebayo 60, Cornick 62

Boro: Coburn 15

Att: 9,790 (987 away)

Nathan Jones | "We were excellent"

Manager Nathan Jones was delighted to witness a winning response from his team, who fought back from a goal down to beat Middlesbrough!

In front of the Sky Sports cameras on a chilly night at Kenilworth Road, goals in the second period from Sonny Bradley, Elijah Adebayo and Harry Cornick helped Town earn a sixth league win of the season and Jones was rightly pleased with what he saw from his players.

“Any win in the Championship is important, the manager started. “It was really important to bounce back from the weekend where we were well below standard. Even going in at half-time today, one-nil down, I still felt we were in a decent position.

“We were playing quite well, we had chances which we didn’t take because we were missing a clinical edge. Second half we came out really aggressive, really front-footed and got three goals, I thought we were excellent."

Following a disappointing team performance on Saturday, the gaffer made five changes to freshen things up, which paid off as the Hatters went back into the play-off places.

“I made five changes tonight, none of those were because of bad performances, we made changes tonight to freshen up the group so that we could go tonight and be front-footed. No disrespect, Pelly had one of his worst games for us on Saturday but sometimes you keep faith with people and to a man, I thought the players were excellent.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8llsr_jWqc – Nathan Jones interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeCqR118Hlk – match highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_z4x2NVHIg – reverse angle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIWbQmrR-kA – Sonny Bradley interview

Second half blitz sees Luton spoil Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock's milestone match with victory in front of the Sky cameras

Championship: Luton Town 3 Middlesbrough 1

Three goals in five thrilling second half minutes saw Luton come from 1-0 down to steamroller Middlesbrough at Kenilworth Road this evening and ensure visiting boss Neil Warnock's milestone match was not one he will care to remember.

With all the pre-match talk about Warnock setting a new record of an impressive 1,602 matches in charge of an English Football League club, beating former Crewe chief Dario Gradi, he couldn't mark it with a victory, as Town finally registered a first ever league win over the massively experienced 72-year-old at the seventh time of asking.

Hatters boss Nathan Jones sprung five changes to his side following the 2-0 defeat at Preston North End on Saturday, with striker Elijah Adebayo recovering from a hamstring injury to replace Cameron Jerome.

In also came Dan Potts for the first time since the 2-2 draw at Blackburn, along with Reece Burke, Henri Lansbury and Gabe Osho, Glen Rea and Jerome dropping to the bench, Jordan Clark, Tom Lockyer and Amari'i Bell missing out completely.

The Hatters attempted to make a high tempo start to proceedings, clearly trying to put the weekend's performance out of their system, with Adebayo in particular highlighting just what a miss he had been at Deepdale.

Luton couldn't create anything clear-cut early on, James Bree's corner being punched clear from under his bar by Luke Daniels, but with Town attacking, Lansbury's shot blocked and Bree crossing at the keeper, a blink of an eye later, the visitors led on 16 minutes.

Boro's rapid counter attack saw the home back-line sliced open, with Andraz Sporar's cross volleyed home by a sliding Josh Coburn.

Town threatened when Kal Naismith brought the ball out of defence and was found again by Adebayo's backheel, picking out the run of Harry Cornick who got it all wrong, the ball hitting his right foot as he went to shoot with his left.

Midway through the half, the hosts appeared fortunate not to concede a penalty as Potts bundled Isaiah Jones over inside the area, but referee Tim Robinson gave nothing.

Watching the replay back though, there was little that the full back could do to avoid the challenge, Jones cleverly dragging his leg to get the contact and go over.

Cornick made a decent connection with his next attempt, curling over from 25 yards when his route to goal opened up, while he had another go on 37 minutes, seeing his low effort deflected behind for a corner that was cleared.

Town's attacker had the next opportunity, found by Mpanzu's header when a free kick was half cleared, sliding in, but sliding wide, a chance in his recent goalscoring form he would have expected to put away.

Referee Robinson then incurred the wrath of the home fans for not penalising and potentially sending Matt Crooks off for clipping Adebayo after the midfielder had only just been booked.

Marcus Tavernier curled waywardly wide from 30 yards, as Town introduced last season's star loan signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to the home supporters at the break, the Leicester City midfielder picking up his supporters awards from last term, finally getting to see a full Kenilworth Road crowd in the process.

After the break, Jones brought on Fred Onyedinma for Potts and it had an immediate effect as Luton were level on 57 minutes when a deep corner by Bree was met by the completely unmarked Sonny Bradley.

He powered his downward header beyond Daniels, scoring for the second time against Boro in front of the Sky cameras, following up his wonder blast back in Town's opening Championship match of the season back in August 2019.

Rather than revel in the moment, Luton went for the jugular and had a second on the hour when another corner caused havoc, and after Adebayo had a shot blocked, Mpanzu's touch volley found the striker to bury his eighth of an increasingly productive campaign.

It then got even better for the hosts just three minutes later, as Lansbury pressurised the visiting midfield into a mistake, releasing Cornick clean through on goal, and he yet again proved that one-on-ones are no problem these days, slotting past Daniels to make it 3-1.

Luton then did take a breather in terms of scoring, as Onyedinma was booked for a foul on the edge of the area, Sluga getting two solid fists behind Tavernier's fizzing effort.

Striker Danny Hylton came on for the final 10 minutes, as Boro threatened from range, sub James Lea Siliki sending two efforts of varying danger wide, while in stoppage time, Lansbury would have put an even bigger cherry on the cake, lashing a first-time attempt into the stands.

The victory saw Luton bounce back into the play-offs though, as they climbed up to sixth ahead of Saturday's clash with Stoke City.

Hatters: Simon Sluga, James Bree, Reece Burke, Sonny Bradley, Kal Naismith, Dan Potts (Fred Onyedinam 55), Henri Lansbury, Gabe Osho, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Harry Cornick (Danny Hylton 80), Elijah Adebayo (Cameron Jerome 88).

Subs not used: James Shea, Allan Campbell, Glen Rea, Admiral Muskwe.

Boro: Luke Daniels, Anfernee Dijksteel, Marcus Tavernier, Onel Hernandez (Williams Kokolo 83), Andraz Sporar (Duncan Watmore 68), Jonny Howson ©, Paddy McNair, Sol Bamba, Matt Crooks (James Lea Siliki 77), Isaiah Jones, Josh Coburn.

Subs not used: Joe Lumley, Toyosi Olusanya, Lee Peltier, Jeremy Siv.

Bookings: Potts 30, Bree 31, Crooks 38, Coburn 59, Onyedinma 70, Watmore 74, Lansbury 79.

Referee: Tim Robinson.

Attendance: 9,790 (987 Boro).

Jones hails clinical Hatters as they blow Boro away

Reaction from Town chief to midweek win

Luton boss Nathan Jones hailed his side's clinical edge in the second half against Middlesbrough this evening, as three goals in five minutes blew the visitors away in a 3-1 victory.

The Hatters had trailed going into the break, Josh Coburn sliding home Andraz Sporar's cross on 16 minutes to break the deadlock in front of the Sky cameras.

Harry Cornick then wasted a great chance, as did James Bree from a long throw, meaning Town swapped ends a goal behind.

However, once Fred Onyedinma replaced Dan Potts early in the second period, Luton found their scoring boots, as skipper Sonny Bradley headed home James Bree's on 57 minutes to make it 1-1.

Adebayo then hammered into the net on the hour mark to put Town in front, with Cornick going clean through two minutes later to find the bottom corner and ensure a shell-shocked Boro side had no answer.

Speaking afterwards, Jones said: "You’d say, ‘some turnaround’ because of the scoreline but I don’t think we were bad in the first half.

"We had chances and quite comfortably could have gone in level, if not ahead.

“Harry Cornick’s had a glorious chance and one’s been headed back across and both of them (Bree and Adebayo) have got in each other’s way, but we could’ve scored.

"We had shots so, realistically, I don’t think we were bad in the first half, we were just behind because we got done with a counter attack, which quality players can do.

“In the second half we came out, we were aggressive, we stuck to the game plan and got our goals.

"This time we were just a little more clinical. Everything we’ve worked on, I’m really pleased.

“We don’t generally go back-to-back (with defeats), that’s the key.

"If you keep picking up points then you don’t get sucked into anything, you can be very stable and you can be in a good place in the table.

“I looked at the 88th, 89th minute and we were pressing, winning the ball back and breaking in fives and sixes.

“Bree breaks and if it’s a better ball and that’s the athleticism we have and the fitness levels and I’m very pleased with that."