HATTERS HAVE LOST THEIR FIZZ BUT STILL WIN UGLY
Mullins punishes wasteful Shrimps
NATHAN Jones admitted that it “can’t be champagne and roses” every week as his table-topping Luton side scraped past a strong Morecambe outfit courtesy of Johnny Mullins’ second goal of the season.
It proved a crucial header in a below-par performance as defeat for second-placed Notts County against Exeter saw the Hatters extend their lead at the top of League Two to six points.
The Shrimps will wonder how they came away empty-handed as Marek Stech kept them out with a string of saves, and, just as they looked likeliest to break the deadlock, Town won a free-kick and the skipper stole all the points.
The hosts were hit by the departure of top scorer Danny Hylton with a hamstring injury eight minutes in and first-half entertainment levels were low, even if home possession stats were high, with Andrew Shinnie trying his best to jumpstart Luton.
A heavy pitch perhaps hampered any free-flowing football but that would do a disservice to Morecambe, who muscled up to the champions-elect and gave them a real fright after the break.
Stech, for his part, kept out Aaron McGowan, got fingertips to a deflected Adam McGurk effort and a teasing Luke Conlan shot, then blocked a Michael Rose blast.
There looked only one winner by the hour mark, but completely
the run of play Olly Lee whipped in a free-kick that Mullins gobbled up, nodding in from close range at the near post.
Immediately, Hatters chief Jones swapped Lawson D’Ath for Harry Cornick and the former Bournemouth ace made Luton look a more potent force, seeing two stingers beaten away by Barry Roche.
Yet there were still a few nervous moments that the hosts survived as the game wore down..
“It’s not champagne and roses week in, week out. You’ve got to grind out results and we showed a bit of steel out there and I’m delighted,” Jones said. “We weren’t at our best out there, but I was delighted with the result as it showed a different side to us. “We said, ‘There’s no god-given right that we’re going to win four, five, seven and eights here’. Morecambe are in good form, they came here, they’ve set up, they’re big, strong and they're organised. They got plenty of men behind the ball, so it’s difficult for us. “In the second half we had to grind it out. The goal came against the run of play, but at a great time for us, because then, when we made the change, we finished much stronger and could have extended the lead. “We’ve had to dig in and show a different side to us. It’s not the fluent, high-scoring, wonderful side, but a side that has a bit of steel about it and we did, we all had to dig in and put a shift in.” Morecambe manager Jim Bentagainst ley admitted his side only really had themselves to blame for getting noting from the game.
“Johnny Mullins has got the winning goal and Sam’s [Lavelle] assigned to him and he’s held his hand up,” he said.
“It’s a learning curve for him, he’s done well since he’s come into the side and he’ll be the one that will go home and take it on the chin because it was his man.
“For everything we put in, we deserved something from this game but it wasn’t to be.
“We wish Luton all the best. We kept them to a 0-0 at home and we’ve come here in this game and should’ve taken something from the game.
“They’re the top side in the league, so we’ve got to take the positives that, if we can live with them, we can live with anyone.”