Relief for Luton as 31-year wait is over
AFTER 11,536 days, or more than 31 years of waiting, the board went up for 12 minutes more. The home fans at Kenilworth Road groaned. Who could blame them? They had done their time and were ready for the release.
It came in the end, though those groans turned to gasps as Crystal Palace missed chance after chance and the rickety old ground was bouncing to the chant of ‘Luton are back, woooahh, woooahh’.
They are back and at this rate they will be here to stay. Against all odds, against all expectations.
The Hatters had a helping hand this week when Everton’s 10-point deduction lifted them out of the bottom three but, if the door to safety was opened ajar by forces out of their control, here Rob Edwards’ men burst through it all guns blazing to secure Luton their first top-flight win at the Kenny since April 1992.
Edwards was nine years old then. Now in his 40s, he brought up his one-year anniversary as Luton boss last week and this was some way to celebrate. Substitute Jacob Brown slid in the winner to cap a mad 12 minutes in the second half, after Teden Mengi opened the scoring and Michael Olise equalised brilliantly.
‘There’s relief. I feel drained,’ said Edwards. ‘It was the longest game I’ve ever been a part of that hasn’t gone to extra-time. The added time was horrible — tough, and long. You try and stay calm but there were a few times where I was like a maniac trying to get information across.
‘I’m pleased for the supporters. It’s been a long time coming here at home and I’m really proud of the players, they stepped up.
‘We rode our luck a bit at the end. It was land of the giants stuff, balls coming into the box, but we found a way to get over the line.’
That they did and the three points they secured moved Luton four points clear of Sheffield United in 18th. Not that Edwards will allow his squad to get carried away any time soon. ‘The lads can enjoy today but I don’t want them having a party or anything. We’ve got nine points. I don’t think that’s anything to be going out to a nightclub and having a disco about. How old do I sound there?
‘No, they should enjoy it, but we’ve got to go again. We’ve got to keep improving.’
Palace started the brighter of the two teams and forced Thomas Kaminski into a brilliant double save in the 22nd minute. The first stop, from Eberechi Eze, was simple enough but the second to deny Jeffrey Schlupp in the box was stunning.
Luton grew into the game though, their back-three well marshalled by captain Tom Lockyer and Ross Barkley rolling back the years in midfield.
Palace thought they had opened the scoring after the break but Odsonne Edouard saw his effort ruled out by VAR for a handball in the build-up. As VAR-disallowed goals go, it was about as uncontroversial as possible.
Instead it was Luton who struck first, through 21-year-old Mengi’s first senior goal. It was well taken, too, the defender firing in on the half-volley from a Hatters corner.
Palace hit back almost immediately through a gorgeous Olise strike, but Luton struck on the counter in the 83rd minute. Chiedozie Ogbene sent an inviting ball into the box, Palace defender Joachim Andersen let it run and Brown capitalised.
The visitors threw everything at a second equaliser and Jefferson Lerma hit the bar as the stoppage time went beyond the allocated dozen minutes, but through Kaminski’s heroics and a slice of good fortune the Hatters held on.
‘Thomas is in really good form,’ Edwards said of his keeper. ‘It’s nice supporters are recognising that too, singing his name.
‘The VAR call was a big moment — the players deserve credit, they could have been flat after conceding. But it was an excellent winning goal on the counter — a brilliant ball from Chiedozie, but Browny made the run for him to play it.’
Meanwhile, a difficult day for Roy Hodgson was made even worse by injuries to Eze and Cheick Doucoure, with the manager confirming Doucoure is set for a lengthy lay-off. ‘Cheick’s got a bad injury, yes. It’s not going to keep him out for a short period,’ he said.