5 things we learned from QPR 0 Luton 3

Luton Town completed a six-point Christmas week when they secured a first double over Queens Park Rangers in almost 40 years with a 3-0 victory at Loftus Road last night. Here are our takeaways from the game.

Clinical Carlton returns to form with a bang

Heading to London, Carlton Morris could have been forgiven for feeling low on confidence after a surprising six game run without a goal, but if he did have any of those feelings you wouldn’t have noticed as the Town number nine delivered a complete centre-forward performance.

The Town’s leading marksman almost opened the scoring after five minutes when an acrobatic volley was saved by Seny Dieng in the home goal but shortly after he did end his goal drought with a superb shot rifled into the far corner after a wonderful run from Alfie Doughty.

Fittingly, given the game was in London, much like the buses in that part of the world, a second came straight after the break when he converted yet another wicked ball in from James Bree from a free-kick midway into the QPR half.

Morris then put the icing on the cake when he provided an assist for the third goal before departing the scene shortly after to a rapturous ovation from the 1500 Town fans behind the goal and a lengthy rendition of his Manfred Mann ditty serenading him as he left!

Delightful Doughty opens his Town account

Less than three days after he kept one of the best right-backs in the Championship quiet at home to Norwich on Boxing Day, Alfie Doughty was asked to play the right wing-back role at Loftus Road after a defensive reshuffle owing to the suspension of Gabe Osho.

Part of that role was to snuff out the threat of one of the most creative attacking players in the Championship in Ilias Chair. Not only did the summer acquisition succeed in that task but he was still able to influence the game going the other way. His lung-busting 60-yard run and pass to Carlton Morris was instrumental in the Town opening the scoring, and then he put the cherry on top of the icing on the cake with a rocket of a third goal which no goalkeeper in the world could save. Town fans had to wait a long time to see the 23-year-old in action but they will be delighted with what they are seeing from the versatile player and will be hoping this opening goal for the club is the first of many.

Lockyer shines once again

While Luton fans were watching the World Cup there were fears that influential Tom Lockyer might come back a little rusty having warmed the bench throughout his time in Qatar. Those fears have not come to fruition though as the defender has arguably come back even better than before he went away.

Lockyer has been the only recognised centre-half in the Town XI for much of the last few months but he hasn’t let that detract from his performances and he was immense again at Loftus Road, organising the defence and keeping home striker Lyndon Dykes to less than scraps.

Lockyer then took over the captaincy once Dan Potts left the field with cramp in the second half. On this form, Wales fans must be wondering why the star defender didn’t get a look in at the World Cup. If he had their stay might have been much longer than it was.

Team work makes the dream work!

It is early days of Rob Edwards’ reign in the Town hotseat but there is already much to like about how the Hatters go about their business. Hard work and intensity have been a hallmark of this Luton side for a while but now there is a clear transition in style.

The formation might not have changed but the way everyone is able to intertwine within it has. There were a number of occasions at Loftus Road where players moved into other positions with one of their team-mates filling in. This made it incredibly hard for QPR to get to grips with the visiting men and was a reason behind the victory as well as those typical characteristics which have served the Town so well for so long.

Super Rob Edwards is delivering the goods

The Town fans have already taken new manager Rob Edwards to their hearts with regular belting out of their ‘Super Robbie Edwards’ chant throughout the 90 minutes, and why wouldn’t they? Just three matches into his tenure as Luton boss and the Hatters are already a new proposition with passing through the midfield into the strikers a real thing under the former Forest Green boss.

The short and simple passing is one obvious improvement under Edwards and two other things to recognise is that whenever a Luton player has the ball there is a calmness on it but that player is never static.

Instead, the man on the ball is always moving to alleviate any pressure and Town look much better for it. There are also no aimless balls into the channels for the strikers to run onto. They are kept firmly between the lines of the penalty box, linking up play with those behind them as well as being in the positions to get into place to find the back of the net, much like Morris showed here and Cauley Woodrow showed against Norwich on Boxing Day.

Town were already a good side at this level but under Edwards they may well have started the transition to be a very special one and that promises so much as we head into 2023.