Nathan raves over his top Hatter Harry
LUTON boss Nathan Jones reckons Harry Cornick is finding a clinical touch after he scored twice to give Luton their first win at The Den this century.
Cornick scored in each half for the Hatters – the second time in three games he has hit two.
To complete a miserable afternoon for Millwall, Jed Wallace had a penalty saved by Simon Sluga.
“Harry’s a wonderful player,” said Jones.
“The first goal was top drawer. If that was a Premier League player on Match Of The Day, we’d be drooling.
“There won’t be many Championship players with his high intensity, he creates chances and is starting to take them.
“He is adding a clinical edge to his game.”
Luton took the lead after 11 minutes with their first chance, as Jordan Clark teed up Cornick to rifle into the top corner.
Chances were thin on the ground for Millwall but Benik Afobe should have done better after 23 minutes, when the ball fell to him in the area, .. 0 ......... 2 but he saw his shot blocked.
There was a touch of class around Luton’s second goal after 53 minutes, as PellyRuddock Mpanzu burst clear before picking out Clark, who played in Cornick for another fine finish.
And when Millwall got a penalty in the 83rd minute, after Kal Naismith handled, Sluga got down low to save Wallace’s spot-kick.
“We looked like we wanted the game to be a bit nice,” said Millwall manager Gary Rowett.
“We had a lot more possession and shots, but we never looked like we were going to win.”
MILLWALL: Bialkowski 6; Ballard 7, Hutchinson 5, Cooper 6; McNamara 6 (Smith (55th) 7), Evans 6 (Mitchell (78th)
7), Saville 6, M Wallace 6 (Leonard (67th)
7); J Wallace 6, Afobe 5 (Bennett (78th), Ojo 7
LUTON: Sluga 8; Lockyer 6 (Burke (87th)
6), Bradley 7, Naismith 6; Bree 7, Rea
7, Mpanzu 7, Bell 6; Clark 8 (Lansbury
(76th), Adebayo 7 (Muskwe (79th), Cornick 8 (Jerome (68th) 6)
STAR MAN: Harry Cornick
REF: C Kavanagh
MANCHESTER UNITED opted to take a flight for the 100-mile journey to Leicester.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should have made his players walk home.
If United could leave an impression on the pitch as big as their carbon footprint off it, Solskjaer would not now be on the brink.
Goals from Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu, Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka didn’t do justice to the Foxes’ domination.
Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford struck for the visitors – but those two fine strikes merely papered over the cracks.
Cristiano Ronaldo produced a 90-minute sulk, Jadon Sancho looked like a man suffering from jet lag and Harry Maguire was captain calamity on his return to the club that charged United £80million for him.
David de Gea and Greenwood apart, the rest wearing the red shirts were guilty of letting down their club and manager.
It was United’s first away defeat in 30 Premier League games, but Solskjaer said: “We weren’t good enough. We didn’t win enough 50-50s, second balls, things like that. You have to earn the right to win a game.
“It says everything that De Gea was probably our best player and we have still conceded four goals. We didn’t deserve any points today.”
Solskjaer has been here before – but has always pulled himself back from the precipice with a big win. After picking up just one point from their last three games, they now face Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea in their next five Premier League outings.
Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers was delighted with his team and said: “It was more like what we are used to seeing.
“It was a really aggressive, emotional game and when we press the opposition like that it makes us very difficult to play against.
“That took the temperature of our attacking game up. We scored four and we could have scored more.”
United soaked up an early pummelling before bouncing back to take the lead through Greenwood’s 19th-minute stunner.
There wasn’t even a hint of danger when he collected Bruno Fernandes’ pass on the touchline but he drifted inside before unleashing a left-footed shot from 30 yards that carried too much pace, swerve and accuracy for Kasper Schmeichel.
But on the half-hour, Tielemans conjured up a superb equaliser. Maguire was robbed by Kelechi Iheanacho with United trying to play out from the back and Tielemans beat De Gea with a glorious chip.
It was a similar story after the break. Tielemans forced De Gea to produce a flying save and substitute Daka tested him too, firing an effort against his legs.
United broke in the 78th minute from Tielemans’ corner. Daka was denied again by De Gea but the ball broke for Soyuncu to score from close-range.
Rashford sprung the offside trap from Victor Lindelof’s pass four minutes later to ram home an emphatic finish.
But straight from the kick-off Timothy Castagne combined with Ayoze Perez and his cross was brilliantly guided home on the half-volley by Vardy.
Daka wrapped the points up in added time as Tielemans’ free-kick was flicked on by Perez and Daka had time to control the ball on United’s goalline before scoring.