Luton Town FC vs Wycombe Wanderers (10th Nov 2018)

TOWN 2 WYCOMBE 0

Shinnie and Cornick net their third goals of the season to see Hatters through

The Hatters made it through to the second round of the Emirates FA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win over fellow Sky Bet League One club at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

Andrew Shinnie marked his 50th appearance for the club with the opener four minutes before half-time, then Harry Cornick joined the Scot on three goals for the season to seal their passage through to Monday night’s draw with just under 20 minutes to go.

The win made it five games unbeaten in all competitions for Jones’ side, who have now gone 15 matches without defeat at Kenilworth Road since Accrington won here last March.

Jones made one change to his starting line-up from last week’s goalless draw at Rochdale, with Cornick coming in from the start as Danny Hylton served the first game of his three-match suspension (four including Checkatrade Trophy) for his sending off in Lancashire.

That meant James Shea was in goal, behind a back four of Jack Stacey, Matty Pearson, Sonny Bradley and James Justin. Glen Rea anchored the midfield alongside Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Shinnie and Elliot Lee, with Cornick up front alongside James Collins.

The Town started like a train, Cornick racing onto a short back-pass from Joe Jacobson in the second minute, only to be denied by a good save by Ryan Allsop as he let fly from 18 yards.

Collins was next to have a go on five minutes, although his 25-yarder was too high, as the Hatters zipped the ball about on a surface soaked by a pre-match downpour.

Cornick fizzed a low ball across the penalty area that no-one could get on the end of before Shea had to race out of his box to make a block tackle on Alex Samuel and set the Hatters playing again.

Wycombe had a sight of goal on 18 minutes when Jason McCarthy’s right-wing cross found Fred Onyedinma, but the on-loan Millwall striker’s header looped harmlessly over Shea’s crossbar.

The Hatters were the side playing on the front foot though, and Bradley headed Justin’s 25th minute corner narrowly wide before Lee sent a 25-yard free-kick to almost exactly the same part of the advertising board after Cornick had been fouled by McCarthy three minutes later.

McCarthy became the first into referee Craig Hicks’ notepad in the 34th minute when he took Justin out as the Hatters full-back flew down the left after another long spell of Town possession.

The breakthrough deservedly came four minutes before the break, and the move started with Bradley instantly controlling a difficult ball pinged back to him inside his own area by Shinnie.

The centre-half showed great composure, not to mention footwork, to keep the ball and trigger a passing sequence that, apart from Marcus Bean briefly intercepting for Wycombe on the Town left, soon switched to the right wing where Mpanzu fired a wonderful pass to find Shinnie.

The Scottish midfielder drifted inside and unleashed a beauty of a left-footed shot that arced around Allsop and in off the far post from 25 yards.

Shinnie turned architect three minutes later, finding himself in exactly the same position but this time slipping Collins into the area, and although the striker looked to have marked his 400th career appearance with a superb finish, the flag was already up for offside and it remained 1-0 going into half-time.

Bradley, who was a rock all afternoon alongside the equally obdurate Pearson, came close to opening his Hatters account three minutes after the break when he met Justin’s left-wing corner with a thumping header that Dominic Gape headed off the line.

Shinnie soon hobbled off, to be replaced by Jorge Grant on his return from injury, and Wycombe had a couple of openings – Samuel cutting back for Gape to scuff his shot well wide, before Shea made a comfortable save from Paris Cowan-Hall.

On the hour the Hatters went close again, Pearson getting an initial shot away from Justin’s low corner, which landed at the feet of Lee, who swivelled and fired towards goal, but Allsop pulled off a terrific block.

Lee wriggled his way across the edge of the penalty area to fashion a shooting chance on 67 minutes, and after his effort was deflected wide, Rea met Grant’s corner but couldn’t direct his header on target.

Wycombe made a double substitution with just over 20 minutes to go, introducing former Hatters striker Craig Mackail-Smith and Randell Williams in attack for Samuel and Cowan-Hall.

But it was the Town who went two goals to the good in the 72nd minute, with Chairboys skipper Adam El-Abd presenting the opportunity on a plate to Cornick.

The centre-half appeared unaware of the former Bournemouth man lurking behind him as he back-heeled it in the vague direction of his goalkeeper from 25 yards out. Cornick snapped up the chance, firing across Allsop and into the far corner for his third goal of the season.

Almost immediately Shea was forced into a good save at his near post by Williams, but Grant was soon crossing dangerously towards Collins at the other end, then – after McCarthy had headed it behind – the on-loan Nottingham Forest midfielder saw a 25-yard free-kick deflected just over the bar after Lee had been fouled by Bean.

Collins had a hooked effort cleared off the line on 77 minutes, but the Hatters were comfortably seeing the game out until Pearson fired a low shot on goal, then produced a tremendous block on Mackail-Smith at the other end in injury-time.

Kazenga LuaLua, who had come on for man-of-the-match Lee with three minutes of normal time left, called Allsop into action one final time with seconds remaining, but the Hatters didn't need the extra buffer, they were already safely through as ball number 35 in Monday's draw with a thoroughly professional performance.

TOWN: Shea, Stacey, Pearson, Bradley, Justin, Rea (c), Mpanzu, Shinnie (Grant 52), Lee (LuaLua 87), Cornick, Collins. Subs: Stech, McCormack, Jarvis, Jones, Sheehan.

Goals: Shinnie 41, Cornick 72

WYCOMBE: Allsop, Jombati, Jacobson, Gape, El-Abd (c), Bean (Kashket 85), Cowan-Hall (Williams 69), Thompson, Onyedinma, Samuel (Mackail-Smith 69), McCarthy. Subs: Stewart, Yates (GK), Freeman.

Yellows: McCarthy, Bean

REFEREE: Craig Hicks

ATT: 5,343 (786 away)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge8reB9zxbE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-HdnLGcSXQ

NATHAN JONES ON THE 2-0 WIN OVER WYCOMBE WANDERERS

Hatters boss Nathan Jones was pleased to see his side reach the second round of the Emirates FA Cup as they defeated Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

Andrew Shinnie opened the scoring four minutes before the half-time whistle as he bent a lovely strike into the bottom left corner from 20 yards, before Harry Cornick secured the result with a tidy finish after 72 minutes.

Town will be ball number 35 in the second-round draw, which takes place at 7pm on BBC2 on Monday evening.

Jones said: "It's never comfortable when you play against Wycombe because they are a full-on side that get after you and make it difficult for you and so on. I thought it was a thoroughly professional performance, I wouldn't say comfortable, but I'd say we were very professional.

"Both sides were missing big players, I think they had one or two out, we had two or three out to be fair, so we knew it was going to be a tough game. we knew that, they always are against Wycombe, but once we go the first goal, I felt the game was in our favour, Wycombe sort of petered out then and then it was our game.

"It's difficult to create a tempo against them sometimes and if they get in front it's even worse. We had to generate all the pace and the tempo. So we knew it was important to get the first goal, we should have been further ahead because we scored a perfectly good goal, James Collins is well onside, so that's a disappointing one. He's onside, it's a great finish, so we should have been 2-0 up at half-time.

"The second half followed the same pattern, we had a couple of chances and then we capitalised on an error. So I am very pleased with the performance and we are obviously going through to the next round."

Hatters ease past Wycombe to reach round two

FA Cup, round one: Luton Town 2 Wycombe Wanderers 0

Luton continued their proud record in the FA Cup first round by easing past fellow League One side Wycombe Wanderers this afternoon.

Not since 2001 have the Hatters been beaten at this stage of the competition as a Football League club, and there was no real chance of that sequence ending today, Nathan Jones' side always the dominant force.

The hosts made one change, Harry Cornick in for the suspended Danny Hylton, moving upfront to partner James Collins.

Cornick should have put the Hatters in front after just two minutes as well, pouncing on Joe Jacobson's shockingly underhit backpass, but clean through, he took the shot on early, Ryan Allsop parrying behind.

Wycombe took 18 minutes to fashion a chance of note, Fred Onyedinma nodding over at the far post, as a first period lacking in real opportunities, saw Elliot Lee's free kick fly wide for Town, Paris Cowan-Hall slicing waywardly off target for the visitors.

However, that all changed with four minutes of the half to go, a move starting with Sonny Bradley cleverly stepping away from two opponents inside his own area.

The Hatters swiftly transferred play from one end of the field to the other, with a brief intervention from Marcus Bean the only time they weren't in control of possession.

With Wycombe finally out of position, Andrew Shinnie stepped off the right flank and finding himself 25 yards from goal, measured his sidefooted effort beyond the diving Allsop and into the net via the post for his third of the season on his 50th appearance for the club.

James Collins thought he had doubled the lead, rifling into the net after being slipped through by Shinnie, only to see the linesman's flag bring his celebrations to an early end.

In the second period, Town almost doubled their advantage when Bradley, still searching for a first Luton goal, met a corner at the far post, Gape clearing off the line.

Keeper James Shea made a fine sliding challenge inside his area to deny Alex Samuel, although the Hatters had a blow on 51 minutes, goalscorer Shinnie forced off with an injury, Jorge Grant on in his place.

Wanderers upped the ante slightly, Curtis Thompson wide, while they really should have levelled on 57 minutes, a low cross beating Town's back-tracking defence, with Gape arriving on cue only to sidefoot badly wide.

Luton then regained control though, almost having breathing space on the hour, a corner fired in, and falling to Lee, who swivelled well, only to see his effort blocked, keeper Allsop grabbing the loose ball.

Lee looked to settle it, his left-footer taking a nick and going over, the resulting corner headed wide by Glen Rea.

However, Luton had breathing space in bizarre fashion with 19 minutes to go when Adam El-Abd, in no danger whatsover, opted for a backheel when none of his team-mates were on the same wavelength as him.

It was picked up by Cornick, who burst into the box, and this time, heeding his manager's words, went across the keeper, finding the bottom corner.

Visiting sub Randell Williams tried to get one back immediately, his effort turned behind by Shea.

Defender Matty Pearson almost capped his fine day with a goal, seeing a low shot dribble through to Allsop, who then had to parry sub Kazenga LuaLua's fierce blast, Collins flagged offside once more as he tried to turn the rebound.

From there, Town easily held out, making it three clean sheets in a row and now go into the second round draw which will be held on Monday evening.

Hatters: James Shea, Jack Stacey, James Justin, Matty Pearson, Sonny Bradley, Glen Rea (C), Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Andrew Shinnie (Jorge Grant 51), Elliot Lee (Kazenga LuaLua 86), James Collins, Harry Cornick.

Subs not used: Marek Stech, Alan McCormack, Aaron Jarvis, Lloyd Jones, Alan Sheehan.

Wanderers: Ryan Allsop, Sido Jombati, Joe Jacobson, Dominic Gape, Adam El-Abd (C), Marcus Bean (Scott Kashket 85), Paris Cowan-Hall (Randell Williams 69), Curtis Thompson, Fred Onyedinma, Alex Samuel (Craig Mackail-Smith 69), Jason McCarthy. Subs not used: Anthony Stewart, Cameron Yates, Nick Freeman.

Booked: McCarthy 34, Bean 76.

Referee: Craig Hicks.

Attendance: 5,343 (786 Wanderers).

Jones felt Luton were 'by far the better side' during Chairboys win

Luton boss Nathan Jones felt his side were always the better team during their 2-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup first round this afternoon.

Andrew Shinnie, on his 50th game, and Harry Cornick were on target for the Hatters to ensure they made it into Monday night’s draw for round two, with Jones saying: “It was a difficult game, you’re always playing a difficult game when you come up against Wycombe, for lots of reasons.

“They go man for man with you all over the pitch, we knew we’d have to really be brave, there was no real rhythm in the game and that’s the frustrating thing.

“Every time you you play them, they slow the game, they don’t want that fluency which we need, so we had to create and it was important we got the first goal and once we did that, I never felt we were in any danger.

“I felt we were by far the better side on the day, we were braver in possession and we’ve had opportunities. “Harry had a great opportunity early on, we finally get the goal, get the second, Matty Pearson had one, Sonny Bradley had one headed off the line, there’s has been a far busier box than ours.”

With Gareth Ainsworth's side unsurprisingly employing their usual tactics from early on in the game, Jones knew how vital the opening strike was from Shinnie four minutes before half time.

However, he couldn't hide his annoyance that James Collins' effort was ruled out for offside moments later.

He added: "I just don’t understand it (Wycombe's time-wasting), everyone in the stadium can see it, it’s not something we do ourselves, but it’s difficult to play against as it kills your momentum.

"You expect other people to manage that but we got the first goal, we also scored another perfectly, perfectly good goal, that’s the real frustrating thing for me.

"Collins' goal is onside, it’s not even close. Shinnie was flagged offside minutes before and he is so far onside it's unreal, it’s not even borderline, not even crossing over.

"So there's two real bad decisions from the linesman. It’s really, really frustrating for me, especially the goal as at 2-0, its a different game.

"They really have to come out and we could have scored more."