Gideon Kodua rescued a late point for Luton against ten-man Bolton to cement his present place as Town’s super sub.
The West Ham loanee struck on 83 minutes to claim his fourth goal of the season. All of them have all come after his introduction off the bench.
This time his strike cancelled out Kyle Dempsey’s early opener and it owed much to boss Jack Wilshere’s changes.
With Town huffing a puffing and then coming under intense scrutiny from an impatient Kenilworth Road, once Xavier Simons was sent off with 20 minutes left, three of the new introductions combined to end Hatters’ frustrations.
Shayden Morris dropped a shoulder, burst to the byline and dinked a cross to Milli Alli. Though his header was blocked he poked the loose ball to Kodua who swept home.
Wilshere said: “I think about Forest Green and big moments where you need a little bit of calm, big composure. That’s not easy, especially for a young guy as well.
“He’s someone who we really like. He’s been in, he’s been out. That’s going to be part of his development. He’s still a young player and we need to get him to a place where he’s more consistent, but he’s getting there and, at the moment seems to be coming off the bench helping.”
And though Wanderers’ goal didn’t succumb again, as Luton laid siege in a breathless ending, it was a finale of fight and character, if not quality.
That will be something to carry forward because for too long Dempsey’s eighth minute strike looked like it would be enough for Wanderers, who had kept three clean sheets in a row before arriving in Bedfordshire.
Until Kodua’s intervention a sixth blank of the league season and third in the last four games looked a likely outcome, no more so than when Jerry Yates missed from a few yards out in the first half. Jacob Brown – on his first start of the season – lashing at him left the striker little time to adjust and the ball flew off his knee and sky high over the bar from an seemingly unmissable two yards out.
That was the Luton’s best chance as they could not find a way through the visitors’ defence. Then hope was handed to the Hatters when Simons was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence on Kodua.
The Trotters had also survived a clear trip on Yates in the first half, with Luton calling for a penalty that referee Ruebyn Ricardo looked blankly at. Wilshere was adamant afterwards that should have resulted in a spot-kick.
Town also survived a second from Bolton when Amario Cozier-Duberry headed wide, when it looked easier to score. But from there, and before the red card, Town had begun to congregate for longer periods in the Trotters’ territory. Yet Simons was barely back down the tunnel before fans voiced their frustration at any ponderous passing among Luton’s backline.
Indeed, until Kodua made the net bulge, the closest a Town player came to scoring was when Nigel Lonwijk flashed a backpass to Josh Keeley perilously close to his own goal-line.
But then came the changes that made the difference for Luton. Kodua perhaps won’t revel in a super sub tag, but it’s paying off for the Hatters.
1 Trackback / Pingback