Sheffield Wednesday vs Luton Town FC (24th Oct 2020)

LutonMatch Report | Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Luton Town

Mpanzu's second half strike gives the Hatters three points at Hillsborough!

The Hatters got back to winning ways with a fantastic 1-0 victory against Sheffield Wednesday in the Sky Bet Championship this afternoon.

Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s strike in the second half was the difference between the two sides following Joost Van Aken’s dismissal for the hosts minutes before the only goal of the match.

It was no more than Town deserved, who created a number of chances throughout the 90 minutes and were good value for all three points.

Captain Sonny Bradley marked his 100th Hatters appearance in style and it means that Town have now kept six clean-sheets in their last seven trips to Hillsborough.

Manager Nathan Jones made four changes for this afternoon’s match, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Joe Morrell, Tom Lockyer and Elliot Lee coming into the starting line-up.

Town almost made the perfect start inside the first 20 seconds as Danny Hylton beat his man in the area and rounded keeper Cameron Dawson, but Aden Flint produced a miraculous headed clearance off the line to deny the striker.

Twice more early on, the Hatters could have taken the lead and were putting the pressure on hosts Sheffield Wednesday.

Dewsbury-Hall’s free-kick dropped at the feet of Lockyer, who swung his half-volley goalwards but it went just wide of post.

The best chance of the half fell to Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, after he combined well with Lee, but the midfielder placed his shot the wrong side of the post with only Dawson to beat.

Sheffield Wednesday came into the game more during the second half but only tested Simon Sluga once with Van Aken’s header, until the game tipped in the Hatters’ favour in the 71st minute.

Van Aken was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Mpanzu, who three minutes later opened the scoring for the Hatters.

Making amends for his first half miss, the midfielder arrowed a low shot into the bottom corner following Rhys Norrington-Davies’ cross which was deflected into his path.

The Hatters were inches away from a second goal after substitute Kazenga LuaLua slipped the overlapping Norrington-Davies into the box, but his chipped cross glanced off the top of the bar.

Wednesday put Town under a great amount of pressure at the end of the match, but it was the away side who went closest to scoring as Ryan Tunnicliffe struck the post from distance.

Nathan Jones’ side - who moved up to 9th position - are back in action on Wednesday evening when they face Nottingham Forest at Kenilworth Road.

Sheffield Wednesday: Dawson, Odubajo, Flint, Van Aken; Harris, Bannan, Pelupessy (Rhodes 80), Reach; Paterson (Windass 65), Marriott (Borner 75), Kachunga.

Subs not used: Wildsmith, Palmer, Dele-Bashiru, Hunt, Rhodes

Yellows: Odubajo

Red: Van Aken

Town: Sluga, Cranie, Pearson, Lockyer, Bradley (C), Norrington-Davies; Morrell (Tunnicliffe 90), Mpanzu, Dewsbury-Hall, Lee (LuaLua 69), Hylton.

Subs not used: Shea, Berry, Moncur, Clark, Nombe.

Goals: Mpanzu (74)

Referee: Geoff Eltringham

Nathan Jones' reaction to victory against Sheffield Wednesday

Manager Nathan Jones was delighted to get back to winning ways after this afternoon’s 1-0 victory against Sheffield Wednesday.

Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s second half strike was the difference between the two sides as the Hatters moved up to 9th place in the Sky Bet Championship.

Reflecting on the match at Hillsborough, Nathan said: “Absolutely delighted. More than anything with the result because that is the be all and end all, especially after two difficult results to take, especially the Stoke game which was tough to take for me, and for us, to really, considering how well we played first half. I'm delighted with the overall performance and especially the win.

"What we said at half-time, I said one word – Stoke. First half we were far better than Stoke, we should have gone ahead and we didn’t. With them scoring straight after it was a real killer blow. But today, they didn’t.

“We started better second half, got into the flow, they had little spells in the game but I felt we were well worth the win. I’m disappointed we didn’t go in ahead at half-time, at least two, because we had two glorious chances.

“You really, really need to take them at this level, but 1-0 away from home is possibly the best result and you know when you come to Hillsborough, you will have a difficult time.

“We always say about progression. We came here in my last game in my first spell and we drew 0-0 and we were excellent. So, it is a progression, because we were excellent today and we won the game.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuz9Sd_NWDQ – Nathan Jones interview

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

Mpanzu the hero as Luton heap more misery on Owls

Championship: Sheffield Wednesday 0 Luton Town 1

Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu was the hero as Luton added to Sheffield Wednesday's wretched home form with the only goal of the game at Hillsborough this afternoon.

A match that Town really deserved to be leading was finely balanced going into the last 20 minutes, before a crucial few minutes ultimately changed proceedings.

Owls defender Joost van Aken saw a straight red for a high challenge on Mpanzu as he looked to break from inside his own half, before the midfielder made the hosts pay with a cool finish into the bottom corner moments later to ensure Luton took all three points.

It redeemed Mpanzu from a glorious first half opportunity that he missed when clean through on goal, keeping the hosts on minus four points as well, stretching their winless run on home soil to 11 matches, moving Town back up to ninth in the table.

Luton boss Nathan Jones made four changes to his side from the 2-0 defeat at Millwall on Tuesday night, with Tom Lockyer, Joe Morrell and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in for their full league debuts, Elliot Lee also back.

Dropping to the bench were Kazenga LuaLua, Luke Berry and Jordan Clark, joined by deadline day signing Sam Nombe, with Glen Rea missing out altogether.

Luton striker Danny Hylton almost ended his long wait for a goal in the first 20 seconds, as after beating his marker, he went past keeper Cameron Dawson and pulled the trigger on his left foot, only to see defender Aden Flint back in time to pull off a superb goal-line block.

Owls also started well in an end-to-end opening, Elias Kachunga looking dangerous on the left hand side, with two efforts blocked, as ex-Hatter Jack Marriott's attempt was deflected away, van Aken's header clearing the bar.

Kachunga's next effort was easy for Simon Sluga, before Lockyer, who showed an impressive array of passing throughout, lofted a ball over for Hylton, stopper Dawson out to head clear.

The centre half almost broke the deadlock himself with 15 minutes gone, an angled volley after Dewsbury-Hall's free kick dropped to him, falling a yard or so wide, with a revitalised Hylton just unable to divert Rhys Norrington-Davies' cross in.

Moses Odubajo couldn't test Sluga, but Town should have been ahead on 24 minutes, creating the chance of the half, thanks to Lee's marvellous vision to pick out Mpanzu's run, sending him clean through.

The midfielder steadied himself, and only had to beat the keeper, which he did, but saw his radar awry, somehow missing the target.

There was always the worry that after such a dominating first period, Luton would be made to rue their inability to score as they had against Stoke City last weekend, the Owls coming out strongly after the interval.

Keeper Sluga was a busy man to begin with, punching Barry Bannan's dangerous inswinging corner clear, palming aside a header from van Aken and gathering Callum Paterson's effort.

Luton regrouped as they looked to make the most of the gaps opening up in the Wednesday half, Mpanzu, constantly running beyond Hylton and giving his team-mates an out ball, as he was tripped when about to shoot on the edge of the box, Lee driving the resulting free kick into the stands.

Bannan also couldn't keep his rasping effort down from further out, before Owls had the ball in the net on 68 minutes, Flint thundering a header home at the far post from Bannan's corner but the goal was ruled out for an infringement inside the area.

The Owls were then reduced to 10 men with 19 minutes to go when defender van Aken was dismissed for his high tackle on Mpanzu.

Town then made it a double whammy for Garry Monk's side as they went up the other end to move in front just three minute later, Norrington-Davies' cross cleared out as far as Mpanzu, who transferred on to his left foot and drilled low beyond Dawson for his second goal of the season.

Hatters had a great chance to extend their lead, a break by substitute Kazenga LuaLua finding the overlapping Norrington-Davies, whose dinked delivery clipped the top of the bar on its way behind.

Luton could count themselves slightly unlucky not to concede a penalty in the 87th minute when Cranie appeared to bring down Kadeem Harris as he looked to reach a ball into the area, but Geoff Eltringham didn't take the opportunity to try and even up proceedings by awarding a spot-kick.

The visitors almost added to their tally in the closing seconds, Ryan Tunnicliffe off the bench and winning possession back, but rather than play in the lurking Hylton, he took aim himself, hitting the outside of the post from 20 yards.

In the dying moments, Town had to withstand some pressure from either flanks, Adam Reach in particular a constant menace, but they did just that to claim an excellent clean sheet and away day victory.

Owls: Cameron Dawson, Joost van Aken, Callum Paterson (Josh Windass 65), Aden Flint, Kadeem Harris, Joey Pelupessy (Jordan Rhodes 80), Jack Marriott (Julian Borner 75), Barry Bannan ©, Adam Reach, Moses Odubajo, Elias Kachunga.

Subs not used: Joe Wildsmith, Liam Palmer, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Alex Hunt.

Hatters: Simon Sluga, Matty Pearson, Sonny Bradley ©, Tom Lockyer, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Martin Cranie, Joe Morrell (Ryan Tunnicliffe 90), Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Elliot Lee (Kazenga LuaLua 69), Danny Hylton.

Subs not used: James Shea, George Moncur, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Luke Berry, Jordan Clark, Sam Nombe.

Booked: Odubajo 60, Cranie 90.

Sent off: van Aken 71.

Referee: Geoff Eltringham.

Town chief felt his side were worthy winners at Hillsborough

Reaction from Luton manager Nathan Jones to 1-0 away day victory

A thrilled Hatters boss Nathan Jones felt his side were well worth their 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday this afternoon.

Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s 74th minute goal was enough to settle proceedings at Hillsborough, the strike coming moments after Owls defender Joost van Aken had been dismissed for a high challenge on the Town match-winner.

After back-to-back defeats against Stoke City and Millwall leading up to the game, Jones was particularly happy with the performance his team produced, saying: "More than anything the result (pleased me) as that’s the be-all and end-all.

“Coming off two difficult results, especially the Stoke game was a difficult result for me to take, and for us to take, considering how well we played first half.

“So I was delighted with the overall performance and especially the win.

“What we said at half time, I said one word, ‘Stoke,’ because we were far better than Stoke first half (last weekend), we should have gone in ahead and we didn’t and then with them scoring straight after it was a real killer blow.

“But today, they didn’t, we started better second half, we got into the flow, they had little spells in the game, but I felt we were well worth the win.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t go in further ahead at half time, at least two, as we had two glorious, glorious chances that we really need to take at this level.

“But 1-0 away from home is possibly the best result and when you come to Hillsborough, you know you’re having a difficult time

“We always say about progression and we came here, my last game in my first spell, we drew 0-0, and we were excellent, so it is a progression as we were excellent today and we won the game.”

Jones swapped formations for the contest, going with a back five and handing league debuts to new signings Tom Lockyer, Joe Morrell and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

Explaining the change in tactics, he added: “We want to try and be a bit more fluent at times.

“We want to be solid and fluent, and we've stuck so far to a formula that did well for us last year, but we want to be more fluent, we want to evolve.

“We’ve tried something and I thought we were excellent, I really did.

“We created a chance after 30-odd seconds, then it took us a bit of time to get into it, but once we did, we improved.

“They then changed shape to combat us, which is always a bonus as we’ve worked on that and I really thought we were excellent, especially considering the time we've had to work with that, but this the group we have, I’m really, really proud of them.”