Luton banked a point at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Saturday when they drew 1-1 with Coventry City. Here are our takeaways from the game.
Reaction delivered as promised
Rob Edwards promised Luton fans that his team would give them a positive reaction after the disastrous FA Cup exit at Grimsby on Tuesday night and they duly delivered. I would imagine even the Hatters boss would have been surprised at quite how quickly his side came out of the traps as his captain Tom Lockyer fired the Town in front after just 38 seconds of the contest.
While Luton were ultimately pulled back later in the game, the fast start continues a growing trend under Edwards. The Lockyer goal was the 12th that a Town player has scored in the opening 15 minutes of matches this season – more than anyone else in the Championship. So, if you are going to a Luton game anytime soon, make sure you are in the ground for kick-off or else you might miss a goal!
Nakamba simply Marvelous on full debut
It was largely a quiet January transfer window in terms of players arriving at Kenilworth Road but one man who did come in was Zimbabwe international Marvelous Nakamba, on loan from Aston Villa. The African midfielder came on for his debut for the last 28 minutes in the win over Stoke City last weekend and made his first start at the CBS Arena.
Edwards declared himself delighted to secure the midfielder when talking about the arrival of Nakamba and it was obvious to see why on Saturday. Nakamba was foot perfect in his first competitive 90 minutes for the best part of 18 months. He sniffed out danger like anyone in that position should, was a calm head in the centre of the park, used the ball nicely and most importantly gave Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Jordan Clark the freedom to do their work much higher up the pitch. You would imagine Nakamba is only going to improve as he collects appearances but for a first 90 minutes he delivered everything expected of him. He could prove to be a very good addition to the Town ranks.
Pelly purrs in advanced position
If you listened to the latest Luton Town Supporters’ Trust podcast, you would have heard the lads be in no doubt as to whether Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu was a Luton legend or not and on Saturday you’ll have seen why the guys were unanimous in their verdict that he was. Pelly was brilliant on the ball and regularly breaking up play and shutting down attacks like he does. He was also the victim of some rough treatment too, not least a coward’s tackle on him from behind in the first half which was worthy of much stronger punishment from the referee, something that wasn’t really coming throughout the afternoon.
If there was something to be critical about the performance of Pelly it would be that it lacked that killer pass or goal contribution like his 20-yard strike against Stoke last week, but the game plan was clearly to get Amari’I Bell in down the Luton left at every opportunity and Mpanzu certainly played his role in carrying out that instruction. Pelly is into his tenth year as a Hatter and he might still be improving which is a great sign.
Captain Tom turns up at the right time
Stand-in skipper Tom Lockyer got the Hatters off to a perfect start when he fired in a deflected Alfie Doughty cross inside the first minute for just his second league goal for the Hatters. To say it was the ideal beginning for the visitors would be something of an understatement and it set Luton on their way in the game.
The goal was the highlight of the Welshman’s performance but as ever with Lockyer his defensive duties were carried out with the minimum of fuss. He was up against one of the leading marksmen in the division in Viktor Gyokeres and gave him scraps, save for a chance in the first half in which Ethan Horvath pulled off a fine save. This was another to add to the collection of performances which have Town fans desperate to hear of a contract extension for their player of the season candidate.
Brilliant Bell proves his versatility
Fresh from one of his best games in a Luton shirt at left centre-back in the win over Stoke City last weekend, Amari’i Bell impressed again at Coventry, this time in the more familiar role of left wing-back. He was a key focus for the Town throughout the game, with the Coventry right wing-back clearly identified as a weakness with nearly every piece of attacking play Luton delivered coming down that flank.
Bell was regularly able to get in behind Josh Eccles, particularly in the first half, but just lacked that final ball or shot to make a very impressive performance all the more appealing. The job Bell did to that instruction was so good that the home side were forced into a change of personnel midway through the second period, a sign that Bell had completely dominated his man. With a bit more in the way of end product Bell will go very nicely under Edwards when called upon in that position.
Town improving all the time and still more to come
Rob Edwards declared the first half against Coventry as the best football his team have played under him. The level of football the Hatters produced really was a joy to behold with players brave on the ball, working passes through the lines and into the wide players and getting into brilliant positions seemingly at will.
He also addressed the need for a more clinical side to the end product but you would imagine that will come the more the same players get into the important positions on the pitch and become comfortable in those situations and when it does click in the final third this Luton team can really go places. On a weekend where his predecessor was ridiculously given his marching orders by Southampton, it is probably fitting that Edwards continues to take Luton’s play to a whole new level, one which will eventually see them gracing the stages Jones has just had swept away from him.
Valuable point to add to the collection
After taking the lead so early in the match, Luton fans could have been forgiven for thinking that the draw at Coventry was two points dropped, but that would be disrespectful to a Coventry side who will cause plenty of teams problems over the remainder of the campaign. What the draw did do was put another point between the Hatters and seventh place and strengthening their play-off ambitions.
Edwards told supporters to dream big after the win against Stoke last week. Those dreams involve making the top six and potentially the Premier League from there and every point which goes towards making those dreams come true can only be described as a good point. With the two teams immediately above Luton meeting on Wednesday night, if the Town can go to Preston and win on the same evening, this will have been a very good week.
