The Hatters had a jet engine up top, but clown car at the back as their defence conspired to poop the party of red-hot Carlton Morris, leaving Luton still waiting for a win on home soil.
The striker was simply scintillating in a first half where he had two chances and scored both in an imperious display.
Morris is worth every mysterious penny Town paid for him in that undisclosed record transfer fee from Barnsley and he’s now nabbed five in his last five outings.
He was partnered by Harry Cornick, with Elijah Adebayo relegated to the bench and Jones said of Morris: “We need to find a partnership and someone that’s with him and scoring goals as well because he can’t share that burden on his own.
“He’s doing wonderfully well, his hold-up play, his link play, is fantastic. He’s everything we brought him in for, but we’ve just got to be better.”
Morris’ opener, a vicious volley in the fourth minute, was Luton’s first chance, which ripped into the roof of the net, making it three in three consecutive home games. The trouble is none of them have been winners.
On this occasion it was because the hosts were eye-wateringly inept at the back and they didn’t learn their lesson from a first-minute let-off when Viktor Györkeres showed returning skipper Sonny Bradley a worrying pair of clean heels only to hook wide.
The Swede then repeated the trick on 11 minutes, giving Dan Potts a ten-yard head start and waltzing past the centre-back like he wasn’t there. This time the City ace made sure when one-on-one with Ben Wilson.
Jones said: “I’m really disappointed tonight. I’m really disappointed with my back three because they should’ve been dominant.
“We’ve got Sonny, who should be dominant. Potts has been in good form in terms of his aggressiveness and Gabe (Osho) has athleticism.
“But we didn’t give ourselves a platform tonight and that’s disappointing.”
Instead, Coventry looked dangerous with almost every attack, yet they were only level for three minutes as Cornick and Morris combined in a sumptuous move that brought about the striker’s brace.
By that point, it could’ve been a cricket score as Morris terrorised the Sky Blues backline, while Luton’s defence looked like they’d barely played the game before, let alone with each other.
The Bambi on ice stuff continued after the break and City capitalised with a rip-roaring strike from Gustavo Hamer that seared past Ethan Horvath from 25 yards, in a goal reminiscent of the late Wigan winner in Luton’s last outing.
The only good thing is that the visitors couldn’t add more but how Luton weren’t given the chance for a third was borderline criminal as Jordan Clark saw a shot saved by Kyle McFadzean. It would’ve been a wonderful two-handed stop if the City man was a goalkeeper, but he’s not. He is, however, a very lucky boy because referee Andy Davies missed one of the most stonewall penalties you’ll see all season.
Luton’s players and the bench were incandescent with rage.
Jones said: “We should’ve had a pen at the end. It’s madness, it’s bonkers, crazy how that isn’t given.”
It seems like Town cannot get a fair deal out of officials at Kenilworth Road this season, but more worrying is that they can’t keep a lead.
And, they definitely can’t keep conceding two at home and expect victories. The wait for one continues.
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Can’t see a win on Saturday playing as we have been doing at home against Blackburn. That would mean the earliest we could win at home would be October – a chance to put one over Huddersfield and their fans for the way we were treated in May up there. I’m not sure I can remember such a poor start at home. Even 2000/1 we’d won our second home game. 2008 won our 3rd game in mid September. 91/92 won our second home game.
The view around us, and with my friends after was largely that was the worst we’ve played yet other than Bristol City away. It’s a bit churlish of me to say “if you’re gonna fight the fans you better win matches” but I’m saying it anyway. 3 points from 15 at home isn’t good by anyone’s measure. It’s relegation fight form.
Anyway, I still think we’ll be fine. 16th or so, ready to go again next season and genuinely challenge then as the team will have had a year to learn each other.
Bradley was poor. Osho wasn’t great but I don’t think he’s a right centre back in a 3. Lockyer must wonder what he has to do to nail a place. He’s been great since coming back in but gets dropped again. He should have been right of centre, Osho in the middle and Potts on the left. Osho has the pace to cover across for the left and right. Bradley doesn’t have that pace.
Midfield was particularly vacant tonight. And the difference with cov was marked. They played as a team, passed it quick, were alway creating space and options for each other and really should have won. We played as individuals – other than Cornick and Morris who linked well.
Freeman needs to stop being a show pony. A few others are doing the same. Twists, turns and a short dribble into traffic slows everything down. Pass and move quickly unlocks defences.
But, saying all that, it was January last season before we won back to back games. So it can all change quickly. So I’ll try to talk myself into some perspective. Hopefully Jones can too. It’s understandable for home fans to be bored and annoyed with our current home form. Suck it up, don’t pick another fight, but instead fix the problems.
Jones calls out defence? Your selection, NJ. In particular you chose to leave Lockyer on the bench, putting reputation ahead of form.
Maybe we should have been given the ‘stonewall’ penalty – but, to be fair, the least Coventry deserved was a share of the points.
There should be too much talent in this squad for there to be any fears about relegation, but it needs to be harnessed across the board. We can’t always rely on moments of brilliance from Morris to keep us in the game.
And a final thought, NJ – as Jim says, don’t pick another fight with the fans. It’s a lost cause – you can’t win. Just do your job and put things right, starting on Saturday. Easy for us to say, of course, but you hold all the cards.