Luton Town vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth RoadAttendance9,899.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Luton Town and Bristol City at Kenilworth Road as Carlton Morris scored the only goal of the game to seal victory for the promotion-chasing Hatters.
Wednesday 15 March 2023 23:01, UK
Luton continued their promotion push in the Championship with a 1-0 win over Bristol City at Kenilworth Road.
Carlton Morris' 16th goal of the season secured the Hatters a third consecutive victory and left them fourth, seven points off second-placed Sheffield United.
Morris struck after just five minutes when Cody Drameh's brilliantly drilled cross from the right was perfect for the striker to head home.
Morris' strike partner Elijah Adebayo was denied a second for his side in the 11th minute when being found by Gabe Osho's terrific ball over the top, taking a touch and beating Max O'Leary, but denied by a goal-line clearance from Mark Sykes.
Morris put another header over from Drameh's dangerous right-wing delivery as the hosts sensed more goals, but could not find one despite their almost complete dominance.
Luton almost made it 2-0 on the half hour when Morris turned provider, hooking the ball over the top for Adebayo, who was manhandled by City defender Cameron Pring.
Managing to stay on his feet, he failed to beat O'Leary, with the keeper also denying Luke Berry's follow-up.
Luton still pressed though, a terrible backpass seeing Marvelous Nakamba's deflected attempt flying over from 25 yards as the Hatters just could not get what would have been a deserved second goal.
City improved after the break, Andreas Weimann forcing Ethan Horvath into his first save of the evening just three minutes in, with ex-Hatter Harry Cornick sliding another effort wide.
Berry's free-kick hit the wall for Luton, but the hosts almost made it 2-0 after 59 minutes when Osho's excellent lofted cross was met by Morris, but his close-range header was somehow kept out by O'Leary.
City looked like they might threaten a leveller, Cornick spinning to shoot straight at Horvath in the 70th minute from inside the box.
Alex Scott tried his luck from a well positioned free-kick 22 yards from goal, only to fire straight at the grateful Horvath who collected comfortably underneath his bar.
Luton then might have had a pressure relieving second as Drameh picked out Morris in the area only for his twisting header to bounce narrowly wide of the target.
The Robins threw men forward at the end to try and force an undeserved leveller, but they were unable to find a way through as Town kept their 16th clean sheet of the season.
Luton's Rob Edwards:
"I thought the performance in the first half was excellent. We were on the front foot, we were a real threat, created big chances, and everything that we want to be, we were. They remained a threat on the counter-attack and we had to manage that but I thought the first half was pretty much one-way traffic.
"As we all know, two halves of football are never exactly the same and then when we didn't get that second goal, they can gain a little bit of confidence and belief from that, and then we all know we've got to make sure that we see the game out. We still had a couple of big chances in the second half, great save from Carlton's header and we got into some good areas, but as a team we defend really, really well, and we had to show that at the end of the game."
Bristol City's Nigel Pearson:
"We gave ourselves too many problems from the start. We didn't start well, too many players out of sorts, made too many poor errors, and against a side like that who put you under pressure, to concede so early on, it looked like it could have been a bit of a tough night. We managed to get to half-time intact and second half we were better.
"Max (O'Leary) made three really good saves to keep us in the game, we've had our chances, but it was a tough night for us as we had too many players out of sorts. Second half we were much, much better, we had to change our shape to try and impact on the game that worked pretty well to a large extent, but you can't give your opponents the impetus to go and drive forward right from the outset."
