‘BEST STRIKE FORCE’ SAYS JONES AFTER LUTON ROUT
Plymouth are put to the sword
NATHAN Jones hopes he has the strikeforce to fire Luton to promotion after the Hatters crushed last season’s beaten play-off finalists.
Danny Hylton made an instant impression after marking his debut with a 50th-minute opener following his summer switch from Oxford United.
Last season’s leading goalscorer Jack Marriott showed real composure to slide home a second before midfielder Jonathan Smith came off the bench to complete the rout.
Smith hailed the performance as ‘a dream start’ but was keen to stress his side will not get carried away.
“I hope I have the best strikeforce in the division, it is a good start for both of them,” said Jones.
“But it would be wrong to praise individual performances because this was a team effort and a topclass performance.
“I am euphoric because we wanted to get off to a good start.
“I am so proud of the players because we lost our skipper just before the start of the game.
“To score three goals away from home is a dream come true.
“We are not going to get carried away because there is a long way to go.
“But we want to be top of the league at the end of the season.”
Luton suffered an injury blow shortly before kick-off after skipper Alan Sheehan limped off and was replaced by Scott Cuthbert.
The Hatters had to survive an early bombardment and keeper Christian Walton was quick off the line to shield the ball to safety after David Goodwillie tore into the area.
Despite Plymouth’s overwhelming superiority in terms of possession and territory, they were unable to carve out clear-cut chances.
And the Hatters had the clearest chance of the opening half-hour after Glen Rea rose highest to head Jordan Cook’s corner over the bar.
Carey was close to firing Plymouth into a 41st-minute lead after a 25-yard free-kick whistled inches past the post.
Plymouth keeper Luke McCormick was called into action for the first time immediately after the interval after diving to his left to push away Marriott’s angled effort.
At the other end Walton stood tall to block Goodwillie’s piledriver as the game burst into life.
Luton broke the deadlock after Yann Songo’o failed to clear Stephen O’Donnell’s cross and Hylton rammed the ball home.
The goal knocked the stuffing out of Argyle and the Hatters doubled their lead on 70 minutes.
Cameron McGeehan slipped an inch-perfect pass into the feet of Marriott and he raced past Songo’o before slipping the ball past McCormick. Jimmy Spencer wasted a glorious chance to pull one back after the striker latched on to Carey’s pass, only to toe-poke the ball straight into the arms of Walton. Luton defender Dan Potts was given his marching orders in the 89th minute after picking up a second yellow card. But Smith heaped more misery on Argyle as his weak shot squirmed through the hands of McCormick.
Pilgrims boss Derek Adams admitted: “All three goals were preventable.
“It was a very good cross for their opener but we should have done better in stopping it.
“We didn’t cover well enough for their second goal and the third one went through Luke (McCormick’s) hands. We didn’t really create enough chances.”