CARL GRABS LUT
Morris piles on Goodison misery for Toffees
IT was a right old mad Hatters tea party at Goodison as Luton celebrated their first-ever Premier League victory.
They survived an early onslaught of Everton pressure to strike back with goals from skipper Tom Lockyer and the lively Carlton Morris.
For Everton’s prospective owners 777 Partners it wasn’t the afternoon they wanted with three of their big guns sat in the front row of the directors box.
But Luton, destined by many to be heading back to the Championship, proved they are not just here for a one season ride in the big time. “Luton are back” sang their ecstatic travelling fans.
Everton huffed and puffed but couldn’t avoid a piece of unwanted club history, equalling the 1958-59 record of losing the opening four home games of a top-flight campaign.
The Hatters had survived a flurry of Everton chances before Lockyer and Morris silenced Goodison following a couple of well-executed set-pieces.
Dwight Mcneil, James Garner, Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana had all gone close in a fiery opening 15 minutes before Luton deflated the growing optimism amongst the home crowd.
Alfie Doughty’s dead-ball skills had already been on display, Lockyer narrowly heading over from a pinpoint corner, before another one delivered from the left reaped dividends. A fierce Morris header came back off the bar but in the mayhem that followed Ashley Young’s attempted clearance struck Lockyer and span over the line.
Four minutes later Everton’s defence went missing from a Doughty free-kick allowing Morris time and space to fire past Jordan Pickford.
Garner should have done better than head against the bar from Mcneil’s inviting cross before they struck back before the break.
Garner floated in a cross and Onana was foiled by Hatters keeper Thomas Kaminski but Dominic Calvert-lewin was able to scramble the loose ball home.