A jolly Oli day for Darren

OLIVER BURKE came to West Brom’s rescue to dash Luton’s hopes of springing a shock.

The £15m Scot showed the killer touch in the 62nd minute to make the Hatters pay for early missed chances.

It was only after the 21-year-old had capitalised on an unfortunate deflection that Albion made the difference in class really tell.

Up to that point a dull affair had been crying out for a goal as it looked like veering towards a penalty shoot-out.

By the time each side had missed their second or third clear-cut chance, deciding it from the spot looked an increasingly likely solution.

But Burke capitalised on a hashed Luton clearance to put Darren Moore’s side in front.

The League One new-boys got themselves in a mess when an attempted clearance struck Harvey Barnes and sent Burke racing clear.

He made no mistake, drawing keeper James Shea before sliding the ball home.

Up to that point both sides had been left cursing a series of wasted openings. Luton could easily have been two goals up early on – Sonny Bradley failing to get any power on a header and Jake Jervis slicing wide when well placed.

Then it was West Brom’s turn to spurn a series of opportunities to take the lead with Hal Robson-Kanu the main offender.

He had a shot on the turn blocked by Shea and then forced the keeper to save low down with another effort.

After Burke finally broke the deadlock Luton kept battling though it took a smart save from Shea to stop James Morrison making it 2-0.