A Gideon Kodua brace against a gift-giving Wycombe was the start of a goal glut as Luton returned to winning ways after four without victory in League One.
Despite Covid sweeping through the ranks and after boss Jack Wilshere gave his squad Christmas Day off, it was Town’s most comprehensive victory of the season.
It was kick-started by a first half double that confirmed West Ham loanee Kodua as Town’s top scorer on seven goals – which both owed as much to Chairboys howlers as they did ingenuity – though there was plenty of that too elsewhere, as second half strikes from Jordan Clark and Shayden Morris rounded off a one-side Boxing Day.
“It’s nice to win and win convincingly and dominate so much of the game,” Luton boss Wilshere said.
“Actually, at the start of the second half, they came out and and you always expect that they’ll try something different, trying to be a little bit more aggressive, but I felt we dealt with that moment well.
“I’m really happy with how you can go from dominating – and it’s the league we’re in – you can go from dominating to all of a sudden be suffering for a bit and I think we’ve done that well today and we managed that moment.
“And then subs helped, coming on the pitch to see the game out. But yeah, really good performance.”
Talking of Kodua’s performance, which included his first goals before the 83rd minute of a Luton match, Wilshere said: “I’m really happy with Gideon. I can see how hungry he is.
“He’s always asking questions of me. He’s always asking questions with the coaches about how he can add more goals to his game, add more assists to his game.
“If he can start doing that and doing it more consistently, there’s going to be a real player there because he has the ability to either play inside and receive between the lines or the ability to play on the outside and create things. So yeah, I’m happy for him.”
Kodua’s opener came from incisive build-up play from Liam Walsh – who bossed the midfield – and Lamine Fanne, but the final shot, though on target, squirmed through keeper Will Norris’ fingers.
And the stopper again had egg on his face for Kodua’s second, though not as much Anders Hagelskjær who badly misplaced a backpass beyond him, allowing the Hatter to walk the ball into an empty net just before the break.
It was deserved, however, as Wycombe offered nothing, and managed their only shot on target in the 90th minute, while in the first half alone Fanne had a chance hacked off the line by Dan Casey, Nahki Wells forced a save from Norris and Clark misjudged a volley from a gloriously dinked free-kick from Walsh, who was superb all afternoon.
It was the first time Town had scored two in the first half at home since October 2024 against Oxford, which they went on to draw 2-2. A slow start to the second half, offered fleeting nightmares of a repeat, but they needn’t have worried as Wycombe were not only toothless – handing Josh Keeley his league-leading ninth clean sheet of the campaign – they came bearing more gifts.
Before they delivered their last one, Clark added Luton’s third. Again, it involved Kodua. His cross saw substitute Jerry Yates jump with Norris so the keeper couldn’t grab it and that left Jack Grimmer to head out but only to the Town skipper who lashed home.
Then, fresh from replacing Cohen Bramall, substitute Morris picked the pocket of Taylor Allen to race through on goal and stroke past Norris with his first touches of the game.
Those second half strikes finally pushed Luton’s goal difference into the positive, as well as the feeling around a belatedly grateful Kenilworth Road.
Well, it is the season for giving.
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