Revenge was a dish best served quickly as a classy Luton dismantled Cardiff to breeze into the third round of the Carabao Cup for the first time since 2007.
An own goal from Junior Hoilett, a stunning Alan Sheehan free-kick and a first ever Hatters strike for Jake Jervis, saw a much-changed Town side atone for their last-gasp heartbreak in the Championship just 17 days earlier.
Such was their dominance that, after weathering early pressure, the visitors went on to gobble up 78 per cent of first half possession.
Arguably, City had the better chances while the scoreboard remained unchanged, but once Town got their noses in front, before the break, a second win on the spin looked assured, as they also claimed their first clean sheet of the campaign.
But they made sure of the result that their performance commanded when a Sheehan special ripped into the top corner and then Jervis – making his 14th appearance a year and two weeks after his 13th – capped an excellent performance by wrapping in the third with almost 20 minutes left, leaving the travelling Hatters fans to indulge in a prolonged round “ole’s!”
Town boss Graeme Jones had spoken in recent weeks of how close his Hatters side were to claiming their first Championship win of the season, which they did at the weekend, but this performance demonstrated that he probably meant the entire squad, rather than his first-choice stars.
He made ten changes to the team the beat Barnsley and, to a man, there were headache-inducing performances of real quality.
Lloyd Jones shone again in the centre of defence, for the second successive time in this competition, while Sheehan, beside him, provided some timely blocks, equally as important as his sizzler.
Luke Berry executed a fine range of passing that bisected the Cardiff lines, including an exceptional through-ball for the third goal, while Izzy Brown, particularly in the first half, exhibited trickery that had the Bluebirds worried in his first 90 minutes for two years.
And they were just the men that stood out amongst an impressive cast of contributors, well-drilled, confident and ruthless when it counted.
Everything that Cardiff weren’t, with strikers Omar Bogle and Isaac Vassell both wasting good chances in the first half before James Bree – the only player remaining from the weekend’s starting line-up – raced to the byline and saw his cutback cannon off Hoilett.
And just when it looked like the hosts were beginning to threaten after the interval, Sheehan stepped up to knock any momentum out of City.
But it got even better in the 71st minute when Berry, a key architect of those possession stats, sent Jervis racing clear for his long-awaited maiden strike to put Luton into the hat for the third round draw.
