Gideon Kodua’s one-man goal of the season competition saw another entry to seal a fightback victory against near neighbours Stevenage.
The West Ham loan ace has now bagged nine and he was already Town’s top scorer this term, but the quality of his his 64th minute finish was a sublime spot of beauty in a battle of blood and guts, where the visitors bullied Luton in the first half. Not the second though, even though the hosts fell behind early on.
Manager Jack Wilshere said: “I’m glad that the players are starting to believe in it now because they have got some really big characters in their really big personalities.
“I said to them after, ‘not many teams will will go behind [and come back] against a team like Stevenage and how they play and how difficult they make it, especially when it felt the energy in the stadium.’
“The players should be proud because they’re the ones who brought everyone up, started to play with a little bit more purpose, on the front foot and then I think they then got energy from the crowd. And when the crowd started to be with us, you can see what it can create. I’m proud of the players for that.”
Before that, the Hatters couldn’t cope with Stevenage’s fiery approach in the first half, when Jordan Clark saw a penalty saved by Filip Marschall and Jordan Roberts squandered Stevenage chances either side of the interval. The first was courtesy of the faintest of point-blank stops from Josh Keeley.
But, despite his spot-kick miss, Luton’s skipper was one of Town’s talismen after the break. A tactical switch saw Lamine Fanne hooked at half-time with Kodua moved more centrally, where he, Clark and Liam Walsh took control, and substitutes Shayden Morris and Cohen Bramall frightened the life out of Stevenage, with their pace.
Clark immediately levelled after Lewis Freestone edged the nearest neighbours in front. But it was that opener that proved the catalyst and sparked Kenilworth Road into life, with the Hatters faithful furious at referee Simon Mather for ignoring a handball – one of many – in the build-up by Jamie Reid.
From there, the official’s card was marked as far too lenient to repeated Boro infringements, particularly from Freestone and Jordan Roberts, who should’ve seen red after a judo throw on Joe Johnson when he’d already been cautioned.
But the martial arts on top of the visitors’ dark arts came merely highlighted the newfound frustration became Stevenage’s friend. Eleven minutes after Clark swivelled in the penalty box for this third in three home games, came the magic moment.
Kodua started off the move with a block that ricocheted to Nahki Wells and the striker’s ball back to the youngster was tempting but Kodua still had plenty to do.
He made it look effortless as he used the lunge of Carl Piergianni as a shield to curl a pass beyond Marschall. That was his fourth in three games.
From there, Luton grew in confidence and Stevenage, despite their combined height, shrunk.
Town saw out their fruitless and decreasing efforts to bombard the home box, with Mads Andersen coming to the fore when called upon, as Town secured a first comeback win of the season, leapfrogging Stevenage in the League One table to move one place outside the play-offs.
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