Not all heroes wear masks but Jordan Clark does as the midfielder hit a birthday hat-trick, while even Devante Cole, Joe Johnson and Dawid Gawel scored their first goals for the Hatters in a romp past Ipswich Under-21s.
Town took the chance to revive some confidence after two League One defeats on the spin and get their defence of the newly-rebranded Jersey Mike’s Subs Trophy (RIP the Vertu Trophy, RIP the JPT) up and running.
Clark managed that with two goals in a five-minute spell before the 51st minute when he bagged the first Town treble for 966 days, since Elijah Adebayo took the match ball home after a 4-0 demolition of Brighton in the Premier League.
“We missed him. There’s no denying that,” said manager Jack Wilshere. “We missed him in terms of on the pitch, of course, because he has his quality, but also his energy around the place.”
Clark provided plenty of that on 33rd spin around the sun, which announced his return from his broken jaw properly, protective chin strap and all, despite a substitute’s appearance at the weekend being his first in a month out. This was a welcome tonic to the concerns of Saturday, regardless of the opposition.
Yet, on the one hand, you have to question what exactly is the point of continuing to pit youth teams against senior sides? It was literally men against Tractor Boys – even though six of the starting hosts were of a similar age, including Zach Ioannides on his full debut.
The visiting youngsters created one chance, which James Shea did well to snuff out from Luca Fletcher, otherwise it was one-way traffic.
On the other, it was a chance for some Hatters to shake-off the disappointment of being shut out against league leaders Bradford on Saturday.
Wilshere said: “I thought the boys were really good — their attitude, their mentality and how they applied themselves.
“I spoke about [it] yesterday saying, ‘there’s a lot of frustration in the room for a number of different reasons’, whether they played at the weekend with a result or they haven’t played and are disappointed with that.
“And that’s the perfect way to show that, to let your frustration out. And they executed everything.”
Clark’s cameo at the weekend marked his 500th appearance for Luton, but this was decidedly a happier affair as with some wonderfully taken goals.
The first saw the masked man collect a flick from Gideon Kodua, open up his body and slot into the bottom corner, while the other two owed everything to sublime through-balls.
The first from Kal Naismith’s deep swinging cross that Clark launched himself towards to volley and then Dan Gore’s slide-rule pass saw the birthday boy again pass into the bottom corner.
Before that in the first period, Cole ended his nine-month wait for a first Luton goal. The fact that he headed in from point blank range is the classic tap-in needed for an out of form and, before tonight, out of favour forward. All the hard work was done by Emilio Lawrence, who twisted, turned and shot only to see keeper Alex Noonan push his shot up in the air and towards a waiting Cole.
The striker should have had two but for a second half goal-line clearance after Clark had capped off his career-first. Then Johnson found himself in nosebleed territory to dink over Noonan as he was the furthest man forward to chase a long ball from Hakeem Odoffin.
And then came Gawel’s big moment, with a real striker’s finish, as Johnson played it to the teenager who instinctively turned and drilled into the bottom corner.
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