HATS OFF TO COLLINS FOR SUPER SHOW
LUTON boss Nathan Jones was bursting with pride as his side annihilated Plymouth Argyle.
James Collins starred with a hat-trick, while Elliot Lee and James Justin were also on target.
The Hatters were 4-0 up at halftime, and Jones said: “I’m proud of it from start to finish, but that first-half performance I don’t think you’ll see many better at whatever level you go to.
“The movement, the cutting edge we had, the bravery to play – and these are in a false position, so I don’t want to be too disrespectful in any way
“So to do that to them, I’m just, very, very proud, as I thought we were outstanding from start to finish.
“We won every header, second ball, we based that win on a good foundation and they they just showed what a wonderful footballing team they are.”
The Hatters were dominant from the word go, Matt Macey saving from Harry Cornick, while Matty Pearson’s header flew wide.
Luton led after 12 minutes, Justin picking out Collins who fired into the bottom corner. Luton had their second 10 minutes later, as Jack Stacey found Cornick inside the area and when his low shot was parried by Macey, Lee tucked home the rebound.
The Hatters made it 3-0 after 29 minutes, Cornick playing in Justin to toe-poke over the line, and they had a fourth on the stroke of half-time, Justin fouled in the area and Collins slamming home the spot-kick.
In the second period, Sonny Bradley’s header was tipped over by Macey, but Plymouth went close when Ryan Taylor’s effort was saved by James Shea.
Collins completed his treble after 77 minutes. He was fed by Lee and finished emphatically.
The sorry visitors did pull one back in the final minute, Joel Grant blasting home, but it was Luton and Collins’ day.
Furious Argyle boss Derek Adams quickly laid into his side’s defensive display.
“It was very poor defensively, not just as a back four, but as a team and that allowed them some really decent opportunities to get goals very quickly in the game and that set us back,” he said.
“We lost a penalty right on halftime to make it 4-0 and it’s a long way back after that. “We could have stopped shots, we could have gone with the runners, could have blocked the ball in from the sides, the wide players could have gone with the runners as well, the full-backs, and stopped the goals that went in. “There was multitude of things they could have done a lot better and they just weren’t at it. “Obviously giving them Tuesday night off at Newport to get them ready for the game on Saturday has back-fired and they haven’t repaid me with the performance.”