JACOB CRACKER
Late strike leaves Hodgson Brown and out
ROB’S ROAD TO VICTORY
ROB EDWARDS saw his Luton side break their duck at Kenilworth Road.
Jacob Brown fired the Hatters to their first home victory in the Premier League this season.
And boss Edwards added: “I‘m incredibly proud of the players. You can’t guarantee a win in football but the desire, the fight and the quality was all there for us.
“They put pressure on us but we got a little bit of luck.
“It was the first home win and it was a long time coming. We’ll enjoy this.
“We are a team that don’t die, don’t quit and keep fighting. We have weapons.
“It’s nice we got the points we feel some of our performances deserve.”
It was a bad day for Crystal Palace, who lost key midfielders Eberechi Eze and Cheick Doucoure to injury.
The Eagles fear the worse for Doucoure while Eze had only just returned from a spell on the sidelines.
Boss Roy Hodgson said: “They are two of our more important players so it’s devastating. Cheick’s injury is very serious. We don’t know about Eberechi.”
JACOB BROWN capitalised on some dozy Crystal Palace defending to earn Luton their second win of the season – and move Rob Edwards’ side four points clear of the relegation zone.
The substitute, introduced five minutes earlier, was on hand to score from six yards after Palace centre-half Joachim Andersen was caught out by Chiedozie Ogbene’s tasty cross from the right.
Kenilworth Road erupted but Luton still had plenty to do as 12 minutes of added time concluded with Jefferson Lerma’s header coming back off the post.
Edwards was also thankful for the fine goalkeeping of Thomas Kaminski throughout.
In a game that struggled to get going for more than an hour, Teden Mengi put the Hatters in front on 72 minutes when a corner scrambled through to the back post and he finished well past Sam Johnstone.
But within two minutes of the restart, Michael Olise responded with a sublime equaliser as he cut in from the left and, with no Luton defender getting close enough, curled into the far corner.
Roy Hodgson’s men, who have now lost four of their past five, had made much of the early running only for Kaminski to get in the way of everything.
Olise and Odsonne Edouard both tried their luck in the opening minutes before the Luton keeper denied Eberechi Eze at full stretch and recovered swiftly to keep out Jeffrey Schlupp’s rebound.
But when Eze hobbled off four minutes into the second half and Cheick Doucoure departed on a stretcher four minutes later after appearing to twist his knee, Luton found a new lease of life.
Ogbene won a corner with a blocked shot from a tight angle before the Irishman went close with a header from Andros
Townsend’s cross. Yet just as it began to look like a draw was on the cards, Edouard thought he had the visitors ahead – only for his goal to be correctly ruled out by VAR.
Having controlled Olise’s pinpoint long pass, Edouard appeared to get lucky with a ricochet off Tom Lockyer before finishing.
However, the ball had come off the forward’s right hand.
It still lit the fuse for a dramatic ending as the three goals arrived in the space of 11 minutes.
And with Edwards demanding calm heads, the Hatters had plenty of work to do after Brown’s goal as the hosts saw out a nervy period of added time. LUTON: Kaminski 7; Mengi 6, Lockyer 7, Osho 6; Doughty 6 (Brown (79) 6), Mpanzu 6 (Clark (61) 5), Barkley 6, Bell 6; Townsend 6 (Chong (61) 6), Ogbene 7; Morris 5 (Adebayo (74) 5) CRYSTAL PALACE: Johnstone 6; Ward 6, Andersen 5, Guehi 6, Mitchell 6; Doucoure 6 (Hughes (53) 5), Lerma 6; Olise 7, Eze 6 (Ayew (49) 5), Schlupp 6 (Ahamada (80) 5); Edouard 6 (Mateta (80) 5) STAR MAN: Thomas Kaminski – Produced a number of impressive saves to thwart Crystal Palace. REF: Jarred Gillett 7