Luton Town FC vs Nottingham Forest (2nd Nov 2019)

LUTON TOWN 1-2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST

McManaman nets late, but Town can't complete fightback from two down

The Hatters failed to record back-to-back home wins after seeing two goals disallowed for offside in a 2-1 defeat against Nottingham Forest at a sold-out Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

Lewis Grabban gave Forest the lead in the first half and Sammy Ameobi scored their second in the 58th minute, before Callum McManaman pulled one back late in the contest.

After having the two goals ruled out for offside, Dan Potts and James Collins seeing efforts chalked off, the result now means Town drop down to 21st in the table with 14 points after 15 games.

Forest had the pick of the chances during the opening exchanges, but Grabban fired over the bar from the edge of the box.

Chances were few and far between until the 25th minute, when Potts thought he had given Town the lead.

Izzy Brown’s delivery into the box evaded everyone apart from the left-back, who finished at the second attempt at the far post after his initial effort had been saved by Brice Samba, before the linesman raised his flag.

Forest had a chance immediately after, but Grabban’s low effort from distance went just wide of the post.

Collins was next to test Samba but his left-footed effort was saved comfortably by the Forest goalkeeper.

Following a Town free-kick, Forest took the lead in the 39th minute after clearing the ball up-field to Grabban, who out-paced James Bree as he raced through on goal and finished calmly beyond James Shea.

First-half substitute Kazenga LuaLua led the charge for Town straight after the break, darting down the line to force a corner. From Bree’s resulting delivery, Martin Cranie got a slight touch to the ball, but Forest managed to clear away after a scramble in the box.

The away side had a great chance five minutes later as Matty Cash delivered a high ball into the box towards Joe Lolley, but he could only direct his header wide of the goal.

However, the away side did score their second goal of the game just before the hour mark through Ameobi.

Lolley’s cross from the right-hand-side found the feet of Ameobi, whose quick turn and shot deflected off Sonny Bradley before going in the back of the net.

The Hatters kept pushing to try and get back into the game as LuaLua went close in the 75th minute, doing well to cut in from the left-hand-side and force a good low save.

Town once again had the ball in the net six minutes after, but the linesman this time ruled Collins to be offside when he nodded in.

After Ryan Tunnicliffe’s close range effort was blocked, Matty Pearson hooked the ball back across for Collins to bundle in, though that joy was short-lived.

With three minutes left to play, the Hatters were rewarded for their hard work as McManaman scored to give the home crowd real hope.

LuaLua passed the ball across the box to McManaman, who produced a brilliant chop back onto his right-foot, before bending his shot into the top corner to set up a grandstand finish.

Town were searching for a last-gasp equaliser and LuaLua so nearly provided exactly it, the wide man again finding space after cutting inside, but his effort hit the side-netting.

The Hatters were denied what would have been a valuable point as Sabri Lamouchi's Forest moved up into fifth place in the Championship, with Town now switching their attention to the game against Reading next Saturday.

TOWN: Shea, Bree (Bolton 70), Bradley, Pearson, Potts, Cranie, Tunnicliffe, Mpanzu, Brown (LuaLua 33), Cornick (McManaman 59), Collins. Subs not used: Sluga, Shinnie, Jones, Butterfield.

Goals: McManaman (87)

NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Samba, Cash, Worrall, Figueiredo, Ribeiro, Yates, Watson, Silva, Lolley (Robinson 83), Ameobi (Adomah 71), Grabban (Mir 90). Subs not used: Muric, Carvalho, Chema, Johnson

Goals: Grabban (39), Ameobi (58)

Yellows: Worrall

Referee: Gavin Ward

Attendance: 10,053 (1,017 away fans)

GRAEME JONES ON THE DEFEAT TO NOTTINGHAM FOREST

Hatters boss Graeme Jones said he was ‘really disappointed’ for the first time with a Town performance this season after his side were defeated 2-1 by Nottingham Forest this afternoon.

Lewis Grabban and Sammy Ameobi gave the visitors a two-goal lead before Callum McManaman got one back late on, but the Hatters were left frustrated as they struggled to make in-roads against a well-drilled Sabri Lamouchi side.

Jones said: “I could hide behind 70 per cent possession, two offside goals. I am not going to, I was disappointed with the performance for the first time, really, really disappointed. The performance wasn’t good enough, a totally different challenge to the one we have had here previously in the Championship.

“We had Nottingham Forest and we need to mark how far we have come sometimes, former two-time European Cup winners, sitting in and playing on the counter-attack at Luton and I think we struggled for craft and creativity. To break them down and that’s the true assessment of today. Losing Izzy Brown so early doesn’t help, we tried everything and it wasn’t enough.

“His delivery from set-plays has been vital, Izzy is our most creative player. He has to play if we’re going to stay in the league. He has to play, it’s as simple as that. I hope not [that it’s a long term problem]. It’s a problem with his hamstring. He has had huge demands, everyone talks about changing teams last week because of the three games in a week – I didn’t change him because he is so important and then you get this and you wonder why.

“When you play three times in a week, it’s about being able to repeat that physical level and then recover and go again. He’s in that period where he hasn’t played football for two years, he has now played a lot of games and it maybe caught up with him.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GntzfxpIIg – Graeme Jones interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJTG5C5tnI8 – Match highlights

Hatters fall to timid Forest defeat

Championship: Luton Town 1 Nottingham Forest 2

Luton suffered their third straight defeat as they went down to a lacklustre reverse against Nottingham Forest this afternoon.

Prior to the match, boss Graeme Jones had called for a repeat of the showing that his side served up to beat Bristol City here a fortnight ago.

Unfortunately, there was never any real sign of that, as although the stats will show Town had 70 per cent of the possession, it took them until the final five minutes to mount any serious and concerted pressure, as they . with the hosts unable to lay any meaningful punches on Forest, who easily kept them at arm's length for the contest.

Town were always going to find it difficult against a visiting side who are tipped to mount a promotion challenge this season, but the timid nature of the defeat will be of massive disappointment for boss Jones,

He had made three changes to the side who lost 2-1 at Birmingham last weekend, top scorers Harry Cornick and James Collins back, with James Bree restored to right back, Callum McManaman, Kazenga LuaLua and Luke Bolton all dropping to the bench.

The visitors wasted a glorious chance on 11 minutes, when Town were sliced open by a superb counter-attacking move, striker Lewis Grabban slicing wildly off target from 12 yards out.

Town thought they had moved in front midway through the first half, only for Dan Potts' effort at the far post, beating Brice Samba at the second attempt, to be disallowed for offside.

Grabban then went a whole lot closer than he had managed previously, sending a 20-yard daisycutter skimming just wide of the bottom corner.

Luton began upping the tempo, Collins put his shot too close to Samba, who collected easily, while Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzy hammered over the top after the hosts won possession back upfield.

The hosts then suffered a major blow as Izzy Brown, who was starting to pick up possession in some dangerous areas, had to go off with a knock, LuaLua on in his place.

Luton then fell behind on 39 minutes after a defensive mix-up saw Bree and Sonny Bradley get in each other's way, leaving Grabban to break clear, outpace Bree and confidently slot past Shea.

After the break, the visitors still remained in the ascendancy, Joe Lolley ghosting in at the far post to direct his header wide, before Sammy Ameobi rolled the ball back for Ben Watson to shank into the stands.

However, Forest were rewarded for their dominance on 58 minutes, with a goal of alarming simplicity as Lolley escaped on the right to send a cross into the area and Ameobi was given all the time to control, spin and beat Shea via a deflection.

The visitors looked for a third, Ameobi's low fizzer stopped by Shea, with Luton only ever really threatening when Matty Pearson played one of his number of pinpoint crossfield passes to the feet of LuaLua.

Time and time again, the winger's deliveries were cut out by the first man though, until on 75 minutes, he took the responsibility himself, forcing Samba to parry at his near post.

Collins looked to have made it a nervy final stages as he turned in from close range after Ryan Tunnicliffe's shot was blocked, with Pearson flicking back into the danger area, only for the second time in the afternoon, the linesman's flag cut short any celebrations.

However, Town did have a lifeline with three left, LuaLua finding the run of sub Callum McManaman, who beat his man with a lovely turn, and then bent his shot past Samba.

Finally, the Hatters and their previously quietened supporters came to life, LuaLua narrowly wide from distance, while a later corner caused some consternation, but it never looked like being enough, as Forest took the victory.

Hatters: James Shea, James Bree (Luke Bolton 70), Dan Potts, Sonny Bradley (C), Matty Pearson, Martin Cranie, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Harry Cornick (Callum McManaman 59), Izzy Brown (Kazenga LuaLua 33), James Collins.

Subs not used: Lloyd Jones, Jacob Butterfield, Andrew Shinnie, Simon Sluga.

Forest: Brice Samba, Yuri Ribeiro, Tobias Figueiredo, Joe Worrall, Lewis Grabban (Rafa Mir 90), Ben Watson ©, Matty Cash, Sammy Ameobi (Albert Adomah 71), Ryan Yates, Joe Lolley (Jack Robinson 83), Tiago Silva.

Subs not used: Joao Carvalho, Chema Rodriguez, Brennan Johnson, Arijanet Muric.

Booked: Worrall 69.

Referee: Gavin Ward.

Attendance: 10,053 (1,017 Forest).

Disappointed Jones felt ‘let down’ by some of his Luton players during Reds loss

Luton boss Graeme Jones admitted he felt ‘let down’ for the first time this season by some of his players during their 2-1 defeat against Nottingham Forest this afternoon.

HGoals from Lewis Grabban and Sammy Ameobi saw the visitors coasting to victory, as they were only thrown out of their stride in the final five minutes by Callum McManaman’s excellent strike.

Although Town dominated the ball and had efforts by Dan Potts and James Collins ruled out for offside, they always looked second best, and Jones conceded he was far from happy with the performances of certain individuals.

He said: “I could easily hide behind 70 per cent possession and two offside goals disallowed, Kaz was unlucky, Callum scored a great goal, and I’m not going to.

“I was disappointed with the performance, the first time I’ve been really disappointed, the performance wasn’t good enough.

“It was a totally different challenge to the one we’ve had previously in the Championship.

“We had Nottingham Forest and we need to mark how far we’ve come at times, former two-times European Cup winners, sit in and play on the counter attack at Luton and I think we struggled for craft and creativity to break that down.

“That’s the true assessment of today, losing Izzy Brown so early didn’t help, we tried everything and it wasn’t enough.

“I haven’t (seen the offside goals back), but we weren’t good enough to win, that’s the absolute truth.

“We were too passive, especially defensively, goals that we could have avoided, and I can assure you we work at it.

“So I’m disappointed with one of two individuals today and that’s my assessment of the game.

“If you think about the last three games, the challenges are there for all to see, but we’ll stick our shoulders out and relish it.

“There were two or three players today that I don’t feel were like that and that’s my worry as I can’t go forward with them at this minute in time.

“I have to do something about it as a manager, and that’s where I’m really disappointed as I feel as disappointed as I’ve been.

“I could give you some positives, but it’s not enough.

“I need positives from more than two players, or three players, I need it from 11.

“I just feel a little bit let down today, if I’m honest with you.”

Although McManaman’s goal saw Luton threaten an unlikely equaliser, Jones felt that late surge was nowhere near enough from his team.

He continued: “That still doesn’t do enough.

“I would love to say to you we deserved something from the game, we didn’t.

“Maybe if James Collins’ goal goes in, you’ve got a longer period to force it, but we’re putting Sonny Bradley through the middle at the end, we haven’t got a big centre forward to bring off the bench like other teams, that’s just where we are for now.

“I’m not here to be blaming people. We need to understand what’s happened, we need to do something about it, we need to find solutions.

“But I need 14 players that are going to come in and execute the gameplan, understand what we’re trying to do, give everything they’ve got, show courage in terms of competing with people, show courage on the ball, show understanding and I was disappointed by some today.

“So I’ll have to look at it and address it next week.”

The manner in which Luton conceded, a mistake by James Bree for the opening goal and then Town’s defence allowing Ameobi to turn far too easily for the second was also a cause of annoyance for Jones.

He added: “It has to come from the individual, as we’ve worked on set-plays for, set-plays against, then we got done on a set-play for and a cross.

“I’d love to be able to kick a ball for people as I was a player myself and I know how I’d play, but I can’t.

“Certain people have got to take responsibility, I’m not going to name names, but that’s their job.

“That’s like me not picking a team or me not doing the tactics, that’s my job, everyone needs to come to the party, I’ve said that right from the beginning.

“Players, staff, supporters, supporters were subdued as we gave them nothing to shout about.

“It was a frustrating afternoon as it was a different challenge to the players than what we’ve faced here, and we weren’t good enough to break that down.”