Luton Town FC vs Swansea City (7th Dec 2024)

07/12/2024 LUTON TOWN 1-1 SWANSEA CITY

Town held by Swans after Adebayo opener

A point apiece amid Storm Darragh at Kenilworth Road

The points were shared at Kenilworth Road, as a goal by Elijah Adebayo, who pounced on a mistake by Swansea defender Ben Cabango in the first half, was levelled by a well worked corner routine by Swansea midfielder Matt Grimes.

Under the swirling rain and winds of Luton, Adebayo opened the scoring in the 17th minute, pouncing on an under hit back pass by Cabango and then taking it round the goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux and finishing from an acute angle to put the Town 1-0 up.

The visitors then instantly almost hit back with Thomas Kaminski pulling off a strong save to deny Josh Tymon from close range.

Kaminski was then once again called into action as Tymon found himself completely free at the back post and met Grimes’ cross into the box, but his header was weak and went straight into the arms of Luton’s number 24.

Shortly before half-time, from a set piece, Jordan Clark whipped in a dangerous ball which Adebayo couldn’t quite make the right connection with and just headed wide.

The Hatters remained firm in defence for the rest of the half to hold the visitors and go in 1-0 up at half-time.

After the restart the Town came close to making it 2-0 when Adebayo’s fine shot, after taking a pass from Daiki Hashioka, was turned around the post by Vigouroux.

Early into the second half, Goncalo Franco struck well from the edge of the box, destined to find the back of the net, but Kaminski once again pulled off a wonder save with his fingertips to push the ball wide.

Minutes later, Swansea equalised through Grimes who was unmarked at the edge of the box and met a cut back from a corner and smashed into the top left corner of the net.

At around the 70th minute mark Luton had a positive attack through Carlton Morris who squared it across the box, but no one was there to knock the ball in.

Around five minutes later, Kaminski once again came to the rescue as he saved a low driven shot by Florian Bianchini for Swansea.

In the closing stages, Swansea had another great chance to win it when substitute Jisung Eom got his header all wrong from close range as his met a left-wing cross by Bianchini.

The Hatters held on however, and fought out for the 1-1 draw against a battling Swansea side in the stormy conditions at Kenilworth Road.

Next up, we are again at home as we welcome Stoke City to Kenilworth Road in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday night. We’ll see you there.

Town: Kaminski, Hashioka, Bell (sub Andersen 81), McGuinness, Holmes, Moses, Clark, Krauss, Nakamba, Adebayo (sub Brown 70), Morris.

Subs not used: Woodrow, Chong, Mpanzu, Krul, Taylor, Nelson, Johnson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF5CnuOG7a0 – Match highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3moW9ZqmgY – Rob Edwards interview

Kaminski back to his best as Town stopper saves struggling Luton a point against Swans

Championship: Luton Town 1 Swansea City 1

Luton were indebted to an excellent showing from goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski as they escaped with a 1-1 draw against Swansea City at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

The Belgian international made four top class saves during the contest, as had it not been for him, then manager Rob Edwards' post match lap of appreciation to what was a half empty stadium, would have been even more uncomfortable than it ultimately was. Town's boss made four changes from the 4-2 defeat at Norwich City last time out, Tom Holmes, Marvelous Nakamba, Tom Krauß and Victor Moses all coming in, Teden Mengi, Shandon Baptiste, Tahith Chong and Jacob Brown dropping out, Mengi and Baptiste not involved completely.

With the game passing a pitch inspection to go ahead during Storm Darragh, the gale-force conditions saw Kaminski's goal kicks getting caught in the wind to come straight back at him and put Town under immediate pressure. The stopper started as he meant to go on though, with a terrific stop to keep the hosts on level terms early on, Liam Cullen's drive from distance deflecting off team-mate Zan Vipotnik, Kaminski able to switch direction and palm away superbly.

Luton then attacked themselves, Moses sending over a terrific cross that looked certain to be converted by Jordan Clark, only for Elijah Adebayo to get up first and glance away from his team-mate on seven minutes. Moses shot wide himself after Town won the ball back high up, as the Hatters altered their goal kick routine to great effect on 17 minutes, Kaminski going short to McGuinness.

Luton then attacked themselves, Moses sending over a terrific cross that looked certain to be converted by Jordan Clark, only for Elijah Adebayo to get up first and glance away from his team-mate on seven minutes. Moses shot wide himself after Town won the ball back high up, as the Hatters altered their goal kick routine to great effect on 17 minutes, Kaminski going short to McGuinness.

Luton's only real chances were coming from set-pieces and the odd hopeful counter-attack, as too often their striking duo were left isolated, the closest they came to doubling their lead, Clark's free kick ending with Adebayo getting his header all wrong. Town almost made the perfect start to the second period though as Adebayo pounced on a loose ball deep in enemy territory and advanced, exchanging passes with Daiki Hashioka and appeared to have doubled his tally, only for Vigouroux to make an absolutely splendid save low to his right, an effort that proved to be his team’s last on target.

An end-to-end opening saw Marvelous Nakamba then give the ball away inside his own half, Goncalo Franco having a crack that saw Kaminski get just enough behind it to shovel away. Franco looked like he had made it 1-1 on 56 minutes, freed on the edge of the box, his curler had goal written all over it until Luton's number one flew full length to his left, able to fingertip the ball behind.

There was little Kaminski could do on 64 minutes, when a City corner was passed to the edge of the box and there was an unmarked Matt Grimes to thump an exquisite first time effort into the roof of the net. With Swansea grabbing the ascendancy, they almost led on 78 minutes when Morris's pass was picked off and sub Florian Bianchini was freed on the right, Luton's keeper to the rescue once more.

The Swans should have won it with four minutes remaining, Bianchini turning provider to dig out a brilliant cross from the left, fellow replacement Jisung Eom stealing in between two defenders to glance his header badly wide from a matter of yards. Although Town pushed their unbeaten run to four games at home, the result and manner of performance was still met with boos from the disillusioned Hatters fans, with Edwards himself also facing further jeers at the end.

Hatters: Thomas Kaminski, Daiki Hashioka, Tom Holmes, Mark McGuinness, Amari'i Bell (Mads Andersen 81), Victor Moses, Marvelous Nakamba, Tom Krauß, Jordan Clark, Carlton Morris, Elijah Adebayo (Jacob Brown 70).

Subs not used: Tim Krul, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Cauley Woodrow, Tahith Chong, Joe Taylor, Zack Nelson, Joe Johnson.

Swans: Lawrence Vigouroux, Josh Key, Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Matt Grimes ©, Zan Vipotnik (Jisung Eom 60), Josh Tymon, Goncalo Franco (Joe Allen 78), Liam Cullen, Myles Peart-Harris (Azeem Abdulai 88), Ronald Pereira Martins (Florian Bianchini 60).

Subs not used: Jon McLaughlin, Jay Fulton, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Cyrus Christie, Kyle Naughton. #

Referee: James Bell. Attendance: 11,264 (1,295 Swans).

Edwards understands boos from Luton fans as he knows Hatters weren't at their best in Swans draw

Town drop to 18th in the table

Luton boss Rob Edwards could understand the boos emanating from the Kenilworth Road crowd following their 1-1 draw against Swansea City this afternoon, admitting his players had never got close to their best once more.

The increasingly disillusioned home supporters had just witnessed their team cling on for a point thanks in main to a brilliant performance from goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, who made four terrific saves, his pick of the bunch, denying Goncalo Franco at full stretch midway through the second half. With Town fans showing their frustration when referee James Bell blew for full time, it led to a near three quarters empty ground staying put to applaud Edwards and his players off, as they are now 18th in the table, just two points above the drop zone.

Asked about the response, Edwards said: “It's never nice to hear, but I understand it. Supporters just want to support the club and want the club to do well and win, perform well and win. So, yes, I'm not concerned by it because in the end, I can't affect that. And I'm learning to try and make sure that my head space is taken up with things that I can affect, not the external stuff.

“It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see, at the moment we're not playing great. Supporters want the team to play well and win. Unfortunately in this game if you're not winning consistently, then they're going to voice that. It doesn’t matter what we've done before and what we've all achieved together before, it doesn't matter. You can see the disappointment and the anger and the frustration. It's not nice to hear, of course it's not, but it’s got to make us work even harder.”

Although the game was played with Storm Darragh still raging on, the Swans didn’t let the conditions get to them, outplaying the Hatters throughout, with over 65 percent possession and 20 shots, 10 on target, to the Hatters’ eight attempts, with two on goal. The hosts were reduced to long balls that were easily gobbled up for long periods, although Elijah Adebayo did take advantage of one to put Town in front on 17 minutes.

City had a deserved leveller thanks to captain Matt Grimes midway through the second period, but having denied Liam Cullen in the first half, Kaminski then repelled Franco twice after the break, also denying Florian Bianchini late on to ensure Luton picked up something for their efforts. A downbeat Edwards added: “It was really difficult conditions and hard to get any kind of rhythm in the game. Lots of basic mistakes but we found ourselves one-nil up and okay, fairly solid, were able to chat through a few things at half time and then second half I thought we began okay, similar kind of rhythm.

"They're going to try and take the ball but they weren't hurting us too much. We weren’t able to capitalise on one or two half moments, chances, set-pieces that we had, they always retained a threat and I think they deserved the equaliser. It’s frustrating from us as someone got their positioning wrong from a corner and allowed that, but if you can’t win it, don't lose it. We got something from the game when clearly we weren't at our best. You can see no-one is performing at their best so it was tough, a really, really difficult day.”