Rob Edwards said Luton got the luck they deserved as two late Sheffield United own goals swung a relegation six-pointer in Town’s favour to make it back-to-back wins in the Premier League for the first time.
It also marked 32 years to the day that the Hatters last won consecutive matches in the top flight. Back in 1991, they made it three at home to Chelsea and that’s who Luton have next – but for now it has been a perfect Christmas.
Alfie Doughty bagged his first Premier League goal with an individual run that left Gustavo Hamer spinning like a top and Wes Foderingham red-face as the Hatters fired the ball through the keeper’s legs.
That capped off a dominant first-half display from the visitors and then chaos broke out with a four-goal thriller of a second half that first swerved Sheffield’s way and then, decisively, Luton’s.
The Blades edged 2-1 in front and then without even having a shot on target for the final 23 minutes of normal time, Town turned it around – with a little help from the hosts.
“It was a nice Boxing Day banger. I’m delighted with the performance. I thought the lads were incredibly brave,” Hatters manager Edwards told Amazon Prime.
“They grew into it. Momentum’s strange in football. When they go 2-1 up, they had the momentum and then, almost, fear kicks in. Full credit to the boys for showing the character that they did.
“They’re incredible. I can’t speak highly enough of them. We’ve had a tough period but the character they’ve shown and the performances that we’ve put in for quite a while now have been really consistent.
“It’s a big game. They got the ascendancy, the crowd are really up for it now. You hope at that stage. We tried to make some adjustments and you hope. Maybe we got a little bit of luck but I felt we deserved that today.”
That eventually came, but for the first half an hour of the second half, success looked a long way off.
Ollie McBurnie levelled on 61 minutes after a half time tactical switched stopped Town and Doughty in particular. Again, Luton will be disappointed by the goal because they closed down James McAtee but then saw the Blade still claim an assist while on the deck.
And Luton failed to clear their lines eight minutes later, even though Albert Sambi Lokonga and Gabriel Osho seemed to have stopped a surefire goal on the line. But the ball popped out to Abel Ahmedhodzic and he tucked it in the corner from close range.
It looked desperate for Town at that stage as United had bossed the second period – but then Edwards threw on Carlton Morris.
Last term’s top scorer hasn’t scored since the away win at Everton in September and had started the three previous games on the bench, but he was involved in both goals to change the game.
It was Morris’ cross that Jack Robinson headed into his own net. And he repeated the trick four minutes later, but this time his cross squirmed off the leg of Anis Ben Slimane and looped into the net.
And apart from a late incident in which Morris alerted Sam Allison – the first black referee to take charge of a Premier League game for 15 years – to something said to him from the crowd, Luton saw out a second victory in the red half of Sheffield in seven months.
It opened up a six-point gap between Luton and Sheffield United, but due to Nottingham Forest’s shock 3-1 win at Newcastle in the earlier kick-off Town remain in the bottom three, just one point behind Everton.
Having seen the result before kicking off at Bramall Lane, Edwards said: “I think that’s a credit to the boys for finding a way to win this game today.”
If they can do the same at home to Chelsea on Saturday it will confirm a sense of 32-year-old deja vu and add extra bang into what’s already been a Christmas cracker.
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