Manager Rob Edwards hailed two-goal hero Carlton Morris for spearheading Luton’s first win at QPR in 38 years, but still insisted Town weren’t at their best.
Rangers’ West London home has been a miserable place for the Hatters for almost all of the manager’s 40 years on the planet, but his men ruthlessly ended that hoodoo and claimed their first league double over the Rs since the 1984/85, in only his third game in charge.
It came courtesy of two stunning strikes from Morris in the 10th minute and Alfie Doughty in the 81st, with both players assisting each other, while the striker honed his poacher’s skills to poke in James Bree’s superb free-kick just after the break.
After moving into double figures for the season, and ending his longest six-game barren spell for the club, when asked how good Morris is, Edwards told Sky Sports: “Very good. He’s a brilliant person, all about the team, works extremely hard and there’s not much he can’t do on the football pitch. I’m really pleased for him.”
And as well as some stunning finishing at one end, Town also secured their first clean sheet in five games, despite Dan Potts departing with an injury and ending up with a back three complete with wingbacks Bree and Amari’i Bell alongside the imperious Tom Lockyer.
It ensured defeat for Rangers’ new boss Neil Critchley in his first game. The former Blackpool chief had been one of the bookies favourites to take the hotseat at Luton after Nathan Jones’ departure to Premier League Southampton in November.
Instead, Town went with Edwards and he now managed back-to-back Championship Christmas victories against promotion contenders Norwich and QPR. It moves the Hatters up to fifth in the table, though potential temporarily as theirs was the early kick-off, but he celebrated at the end by gleefully punching the West London air in front of the School End where 1,500 travelling town fans stayed singing “We’ve got super Robbie Edwards…” at their new hero.
But the manager then said: “We weren’t at out best tonight. We scored two stunning goals, the first and the third were brilliant goals and then scored from a set-piece. So, we were ruthless at one end and then defended the goal really, really well, like warriors. We do that extremely well.
“We had to do it the other night against Norwich and they’ve done this for a long time before we were in here as well.
“QPR are a good team and having gone 1-0 up fairly early, we had to be quite good without the ball, try to be compact because we struggled to get as much pressure as we’d like, but a 3-0 victory away from home and a Luton team I don’t think has won here for almost 40 years, it’s a great result for us.”
What a way to round off the year! Great to see Alfie Doughty so much involved and scoring that brilliant third goal. He’s surely here to stay. Rob Edwards may say the Hatters weren’t at their best – and he’s the man who should know – but most of us will happily settle for a 3-0 scoreline at QPR. And the ref? Should have shown the ball a yellow card at least for tripping a QPR player!