Luton Town vs Middlesbrough. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth RoadAttendance9,790.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Luton Town and Middlesbrough at Kenilworth Road as Hatters scored three goals in five second-half minutes to ruin Neil Warnock's record night in English football.
Tuesday 2 November 2021 22:37, UK
Three goals in five second-half minutes from Luton saw Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock beaten on his record-breaking 1,602nd match as a manager.
With Warnock now the record-holder for most games managing English league clubs, he saw Boro go ahead through 18-year-old striker Josh Coburn on his full debut.
But Sonny Bradley, Elijah Adebayo and Harry Cornick struck to condemn Boro to a 3-1 loss.
Boro broke the deadlock in the 15th minute with their first shot on target when Coburn slid home Andraz Sporar's cross.
Luton might have conceded a penalty midway through the half when Dan Potts bundled Isaiah Jones over inside the box, but referee Tim Robinson gave nothing.
Cornick curled high over the bar from 25 yards, while with 37 minutes gone he chanced his arm again, sending a low shot that flicked off a defender and went behind.
The forward should have made it 1-1 in the 40th minute as he slid wide of the bottom corner with just Luke Daniels to beat.
Marcus Tavernier then curled over the bar from distance, while on the stroke of half-time Cornick's long throw was flicked on and James Bree arrived at the far post but did not get enough on his effort, with Boro clearing off the line.
After the break, the fun really started, Luton drawing level after 57 minutes. Boro's defenders completely switched off from a corner allowing an unmarked Bradley to power his downward header beyond Daniels for his first goal of the season.
One then became two on the hour mark, as another set-piece caused problems for the visiting defence, and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu kept the ball alive for leading scorer Adebayo to take a touch and hammer low into the net.
Luton then had their third in the 62nd minute as the visiting midfield were pressed into a mistake by Henri Lansbury, with Cornick played clean through and he found the bottom corner of the net.
Boro went close to pulling one back, with Tavernier's fizzing free-kick requiring a block from Simon Sluga, while James Lea Siliki came off the bench to shoot miles over and also drag an effort wide.
Lansbury might have added a fourth from range, but flashed well, well wide, as victory saw Town climb back into the play-off places once more, sitting in sixth place ahead of Saturday's home game with Stoke.
Luton's Nathan Jones: "I thought we came out really aggressively in the second half and upped the tempo a little bit. I didn't think we played badly in the first half, I thought we had a lot of chances without really being as fluent as we would have liked to have been. On the balance of play, I thought we should have gone in level at least, but we got the goals and thoroughly deserved it.
"Middlesbrough are a good side and some of their wide players are top level. We knew we had to be at our best tonight, but we are really good here. We are front-footed and we believe we have got goals in us."
Middlesbrough's Neil Warnock: "We just lost concentration. We got a little bit bullied, but I thought the game should have been over at half time, if I'm honest. You can't tell me it's not a penalty. I know you say he might have gone down easy, but he's past the man. The lad has put his foot out - you can see the foot - and I think the linesman has overruled the referee.
"All of the goals were really preventable, we just haven't got enough of that nastiness. I think they just bullied us a little bit for those five minutes and we couldn't stand up to it."
