Luton Town FC vs Exeter City (17th Mar 2026)

17/03/2026 LUTON TOWN 3-2 EXETER CITY

Town make it two wins in four days

Hatters follow-up weekend win with victory on home soil against Exeter

The Town moved to within four points of the play-offs as they made it back-to-back wins with victory over Exeter at Kenilworth Road.

In an entertaining game against the out-of-form visitors, the Hatters were in command at half-time thanks to another goal from Kasey Palmer, a penalty from Jordan Clark and Hakeem Odoffin’s first for the club.

Exeter pulled one back to make it 3-2 early in the second half but despite dominating for long periods the Town could not find a killer fourth goal.

It set-up a tense finale, which included seven added minutes, but the Hatters held on to breathe new life into their play-off ambitions in a crowded race for the top six.

Two corners led to both goals in Saturday’s win at Wycombe and in an action-packed first-half, the Town took the lead in the 13th minute from another set-play. Liam Walsh’s corner from the left found Palmer and he nodded home his third goal in as many games.

Exeter, who came into the match without a win in 11 League One games, responded well and, on 25 minutes, the Grecians were level when Reece Cole fired home from the edge of the area.

Yet parity lasted less than four minutes as the Hatters regained the lead from the spot. Jack Aitchison was adjudged to have handled in the box and from the resultant penalty Clark sent the goalkeeper the wrong way for his 11th of the season.

But back came the visitors and they spurned an excellent opportunity to make it 2-2 on 32 minutes when Jack McMillan missed two chances from close range, striking the post with second of them.

As half-time approached the chances kept coming in an open game. It was almost 3-1 when Palmer was denied by a fine save after being found by Walsh’s cute pass but moments before the half-time whistle the lead was increased.

Emilio Lawrence was clattered on the touchline and from the resultant free-kick swung in by George Saville, Odoffin was first to guide the ball home from close range for his first goal in Luton colours.

The two-goal lead was cut out just five minutes after the restart, however, as fine wing play from Timur Tutierov teed up Ilmari Niskanen to tap home from close range.

The goal sparked the Hatters into life but try as they might they could not add to their tally.

Devante Cole, the one change to the Town team that started at the weekend, saw a shot saved on 54 minutes, Clark fired over a minute later and, on the hour, Clark clipped the crossbar with a deflected shot.

Kal Naismith, fresh from a goal at the weekend nodded over on 64 minutes before Clark acrobatically volleyed wide three minutes later.

Jack Wilshere looked to the bench with 15 minutes to play, introducing former Exeter midfielder Jake Richards and striker Elijah Adebayo for his first appearance at Kenilworth Road in almost a year.

Naismith then flashed a volley wide but the Town could not find a fourth and the final stages saw the visitors push for the leveller.

But, despite several minutes of added time, Exeter could not create a meaningful chance and the Hatters were left to celebrate a second win in the space of four days.

Stockport are up next at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.

We’ll see you then.

UTT.

Town: Keeley, Lawrence, Kodua, Lonwijk, Odoffin, Naismith, Saville (sub Sandal 90+5), Clark (sub van den Berg 90+2), Walsh, Palmer (sub Richards 75), Cole (sub Adebayo 75).

Subs not used: Shea, Morris, Johnson.

Attendance: 9,216, including 471 from Exeter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKRATU4kkA0 – match highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ej-orXtzmQ – Jack Wilshere interview

League One: Luton Town 3 Exeter City 2

Set-pieces prove key once more as Hatters hold off Grecians

Luton Town kept their faint play-off hopes alive by recording back-to-back victories when defeating Exeter City 3-2 at Kenilworth Road this evening.

Going into a season-defining run of fixtures, with four of their next five league outings on home soil, it was imperative that Hatters picked up all three points if they want to maintain any kind of ambitions of a top six finish in their first contest, and they did so in a game that was far closer than it should have been at the end.

Boss Jack Wilshere made one change from the 2-1 victory at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday, Devante Cole in for the injured Nahki Wells, while Sverre Sandal was on the bench for the first time since arriving in the January transfer window. Luton made a decent enough start, bossing possession in the early stages, as Kasey Palmer sent Jordan Clark away on the left who advanced to just inside the area, firing a low shot that Joe Whitworth parried away.

Town took the lead on 14 minutes with yet another goal from a corner as following on from two at Adams Park, Liam Walsh's delivery was spot on again, met by Palmer whose downward header beat Whitworth for his third goal in three games. The Hatters tried to get an immediate second, Emilio Lawrence having a 20-yard crack that was easy for Whitworth.

However, Exeter then absolutely dominated the ball for a good five minutes, looking far better than a struggling team who were on a nine-game winless run themselves and got their reward on 25 minutes, Kal Naismith beaten too easily in the box by Josh Magennis, whose low cross was only half cleared by Nigel Lonwijk, Reece Cole slamming home the leveller.

Parity wasn’t restored for too long though, four minutes in fact, as Town were handed the opportunity to lead again, quite literally, Lawrence charging down a clearance and Cole pressurising Jack Aitchison, who knocked the ball behind with his arms as he fell, spotted by eagle-eyed referee Alex Chilowicz, who immediately whistled for a penalty.

Clark stepped up to send Whitworth the wrong way and roll into the far corner for his 11th of the campaign, but still the Grecians refused to go quietly, as they should have equalised again, Ilmari Niskanen picking out Jack McMillan who was denied by Keeley’s outstretched legs and then hit the post with his follow up.

Luton almost extended their advantage in first half stoppage time when Walsh threaded a pass through to Palmer who raced into the box and tried to dink the advancing Whitworth, only seeing the keeper react well to parry. Wilshere’s side did ultimately have their third before the break, as Reece Cole unwisely fouled Lawrence in a dangerous position, Saville sending in the free kick perfectly for Hakeem Odoffin to stretch out a leg and convert from close range for his first Hatters goal.

After Town came out for the second period and saw two Walsh corners punched away by Whitworth, the visitors pulled one back on 49 minutes, when Timur Tutierov got away from Odoffin with ease and then simply waltzed past a weak attempt to tackle by Lonwijk in the area, squaring for Niskanen to tap in.

Thankfully, Luton didn’t try to protect their advantage though, playing their best football over the next 25 minutes or so, as they could and should have retaken a two-goal lead, Cole pouncing on a poor backpass from the visitors only to fire tamely at Whitworth, for what was at least a first shot on target on his ninth appearance since signing for the club in January.

Clark hammered over on his left foot before he went even closer just before the hour mark, able to pick up a loose ball and let fly, unluckily seeing his attempt crash against the point of post and bar. The long-serving midfielder continued to spark, having one of his best games in recent weeks, as he took to the air to spectacularly meet Walsh’s dinked free kick into the box with an acrobatic volley that flew across goal, Naismith just unable to reach it at the far post.

Having come off the bench at Wycombe on Saturday, striker Elijah Adebayo then made his Kenilworth Road return in the closing stages, replacing Cole with 15 minutes to go, while Town’s set-pieces were almost rewarded once more on 77 minutes, when another Saville delivery was met by Naismith at the far post, who could only send it wide.

Late on, Luton came under some unnecessary pressure as their second half efforts should have seen the result sewn up long before the three extra minutes were added, Naismith with a magnificent challenge on Jayden Wareham and then Sonny Cox taking a heavy touch to send the ball behind, as Sandal was introduced for his first taste of English football. Thankfully there was no repeat of the recent late setbacks against Burton and Reading, as Town picked up another welcome three points ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash with fellow Vertu Trophy finalists Stockport County.

Hatters: Josh Keeley, Nigel Lonwijk, Hakeem Odoffin, Kal Naismith (C), Gideon Kodua, George Saville (Sverre Sandal 90), Liam Walsh, Kasey Palmer (Jake Richards 75), Emilio Lawrence, Jordan Clark (Davy van den Berg 90), Devante Cole (Elijah Adebayo 75). Subs not used: James Shea, Joe Johnson.

Chairboys: Joe Whitworth, Jack McMillan, Ethan Brierley (Kevin McDonald 80), Jack Aitchinson, Reece Cole (Akeel Higgins 65), Ilmari Niskanen, Johnly Yfeko (Danny Andrew 55), Luca Woodouse, Pierce Sweeney ©, Josh Magennis (Jayden Wareham 55), Timur Tutierov (Sonny Cox 80).

Subs not used: Jack Bycroft, Charlie Cummins.

Booked: R Cole 45, Lawrence 72, McMillan 82.

Referee: Alex Chilowicz.

Attendance: 9,216 (471 Grecians).

Wilshere happy Town's hard work is paying off as Luton's set-piece prowess downs Grecians

Hatters score all three goals from deadball situations once more

Luton boss Jack Wilshere was happy to see his side’s hard work on the training ground is paying off handsomely after the Hatters bagged yet another three goals from set-pieces during their 3-2 victory over Exeter City at Kenilworth Road last night.

With 13 minutes on the clock, Town were up and running when Liam Walsh’s excellent corner from the left hand side was perfectly delivered for Kasey Palmer to glance a downward header into the net to score for a third successive game. The Grecians then levelled through Reece Cole’s clinical finish, before Luton went straight back up the other end to move 2-1 in front when Jack Aitchison was adjudged to have handballed in the area by referee Alex Chilowicz, despite appearing to have been shoved by Devante Cole, Jordan Clark rolling his penalty into the net.

It was then 3-1 to the hosts on the stroke of half time, George Saville the architect this time, as he curled in a magnificent free kick for Hakeem Odoffin to prod home from a few yards out and score his first goal for the club. It means that following both goals coming from corners against Wycombe on Saturday, Walsh and Saville the providers once more in Buckinghamshire, then seven from Town’s last 10 matches are now from deadball situations, as Saville and Walsh were on target themselves from corners against Reading and Northampton.

It is no real surprise to Wilshere, who said: "You can talk about set-pieces and set up and get your timing and your block right, but if you don’t get the delivery right then you haven’t got the chance to score and that’s really important. I think Walshy, Savs are probably our two best at taking set-pieces. I’ve said this before and the players know this, I pick the team on that as well, as it’s a really important part of the game that we’ve worked on so much and I’m happy that we’re seeing some output from it.

“Credit to the players as we work on it a lot. There were some frustrations earlier in the season that we weren’t quite getting there, or we weren’t quite getting the detail of the block right, so credit to the players, but also credit to Pilks (Kevin Pilkington, goalkeeper coach), as he’s the guy that studies the opposition. He’s the guy who comes up with where we’re going to put the ball, how we’re going to attack it and he’s relentless with it. So I’m really happy for the players, but happy for Pilks as well because he puts a lot of effort into it.

“We worked on it all season, we have different ways of working on it. We obviously work the day before a game on specific stuff around the opposition, but we train it in the week as well. We have set-piece games, we have rewards for set-pieces and I think it’s so important. You see it across every level of the game and I’m really happy as when you do put a lot of work in and there were some frustrations earlier on in the season where we weren’t quite getting the delivery right or we were and we didn’t block the goalie and he came and caught it, so everything has to fall into place and then the delivery is really important and we got that right.”

With Wilshere having spoken earlier in the campaign about rewards for clean sheets, it appears that is now the case for set-pieces too, but asked if he could reveal what they actually were, he opted to stay quiet once more, continuing: “No, I can’t, I can’t say.”

Although the first half was all about set-plays for the Hatters, once Exeter, who looked the better side for large parts of the opening 45 minutes half, made it 3-2 at the start of the second period, then it was Town who regained the ascendancy, going close from open play to adding to their tally, Clark hitting the bar, with Kal Naismith going close twice as well.

Wilshere added: “We started okay and then we maybe allowed them to come into the game. They play some nice stuff, they’re a good team, they’re obviously down the league a little bit, but they play some good football. They make it difficult for you, they drag you all over the place, we couldn't quite get to grips with that in the first half, but set-pieces were important again.

“I thought we scored at really good times too. We showed a lot of purpose when we did decide to attack. It wasn’t always easy to take the ball as they kept the ball a lot, but when we got the ball I thought we attacked with purpose, variation as we spoke about before. Sometimes we went behind them, sometimes we went through them, I think we can do better in the second half when we win the ball back high to pick the right pass and really make that opportunity, but I thought we scored at the right times and attacked with purpose.

“That was the message at half time, we changed a few things, gave the players a little bit more clarity and asked them to be a little bit more aggressive, which I thought we were in the second half. They hit us on the counter at the start, but I thought apart from that, if any team was going to score it was probably us. We contained their build-up play, our high press was excellent, we won a lot of duels, we won a lot of aerial duels, and then as the game goes on it gets a little bit nervy, but I thought we saw it out really well and happy with the result."