Claw draw for Swans
RUSSELL MARTIN praised his Swansea side for showing “balls” after they clawed back a three-goal deficit.
The struggling Swans were as good as buried after less than 30 minutes following a Hatters blitz.
But three subs – Ben Cabango, Olivier Ntcham and Joel Piroe (above) – changed the game to leave Martin both annoyed and pleased.
He said “The first half was nowhere near where we want to be. It was disappointing how it went.
“But it took some real balls and courage to dig in and play that way.
“We were outstanding. It was attack versus defence at the end. The players took big responsibility, that showed how much they believed in it and each other.” Luton looked on their way to earning all three points with a blistering start.
Luke Berry opened the scoring after just seven minutes when he volleyed home a superb effort.
Elijah Adebayo heaped on the pain after 15 minutes from the spot after Kyle Naughton tripped Harry Cornick. And the Hatters were in dreamland when Adebayo netted his second on 23 minutes.
But Swansea started the second half brightly, thanks to the triple subs.
They got a glimmer of light through some good fortune, when a Jamie Paterson shot looped off the body of keeper Simon Sluga.
The buoyed visitors had late hope when Ntcham delivered a stunning strike with five minutes remaining.
Then deep into injury-time, sub Piroe sent the away fans into ecstasy with a late drive.
Luton boss Nathan Jones said: “We looked dead on our feet. We could have had far more than we did. We didn’t think we’d need more than three to win it.”
LUTON: Sluga 6; Naismith 7, Lockyer 6, Burke 6; Bree , Lansbury 6, Berry 7 (Clark 60, 5), Mpanzu 6, Osho 6; Adebayo 8, (Rea 89), Cornick 7 (Jerome 76, 5). Unused Subs: Shea, Francis Clarke, Mendes Gomes, Pereira.
SWANSEA: Hamer 5; Bennett 5, Naughton 6, Williams 4 (Cabango 46, 6); Laird 5, Downes 4 (Piroe 46, 6),Grimes 5, Manning 5; Walsh 5 (Ntcham 46, 6), Paterson 6; Obafemi 5.
Unused Subs:benda, Fulton, Smith, Latibeaudiere.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Elijah Adebayo. The striker deserved to be on the winning side after two goals and an assist.
REFEREE: Tony Harrington 7.