Luton Town vs Swansea City. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth RoadAttendance10,072.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Luton Town and Swansea at Kenilworth Road as Carlton Morris scored the only goal of the game to seal victory for the Hatters.
Saturday 4 March 2023 18:37, UK
Carlton Morris scored his 14th goal of the season as Luton heaped more misery on Swansea, who had manager Russell Martin sent off, with a 1-0 win at Kenilworth Road.
The visitors went close in the 10th minute when Luke Cundle took aim from range, but his low drive was well saved by Ethan Horvath at his near post.
Town striker Elijah Adebayo then headed Alfie Doughty's corner over at the other end, before Doughty created an even better chance on 16 minutes.
He swung over a cross from the left which Morris met with a downward header that forced Andy Fisher into a good stop.
Gabe Osho then beat a man just outside the box before lashing over the top from 20 yards, before with 30 minutes up, Morris met Jordan Clark's corner at the back post, his header glancing the top of the bar.
Doughty's set-pieces continued to cause a problem, his next one met by Tom Lockyer whose header hit Jay Fulton before Fisher palmed the loose ball away.
Town's pressure paid off on 39 minutes though when Clark originally mis-hit a shot, but Luton maintained the danger and when Doughty's cross was not gathered by Fisher, it allowed Morris to pounce from two yards.
Nathan Wood put his downward header off target as Swans looked to respond immediately, but the second period saw the visitors start with far greater intensity, Oli Cooper wasting a glorious chance when clean through, scooping horribly over the bar.
Joel Piroe then had a crack from range, his effort deflecting into the gloves of Horvath.
Town looked for a confidence-boosting second just after the hour mark when Clark reached the byline and found Allan Campbell, whose header was well parried by Fisher, Morris unable to divert the rebound on target.
Town sub Cauley Woodrow came on to pep up Luton's attack, as he fired a pass out to Doughty who hammered an angled attempt over.
Liam Cullen thought he had made it 1-1 when beating Horvath after being sent through, but the referee's assistant flag saw his celebrations cut short.
Morris looked to double his account, sending a right footer into the side-netting, as Woodrow then had appeals for a penalty turned down when his shot crashed against a defender.
With four minutes left, the Swans came close to levelling, Morgan Whittaker's attempt batted away by Horvath.
Luton then had chances in the latter stages too, Cody Drameh releasing Doughty who found Clark to hit the outside of the post.
Out of nowhere, there was a mass brawl between the two benches which saw visiting boss Martin sent off as was Town assistant Richie Kyle.
Town cleared their lines with conviction in stoppage time to further boost their play-off hopes and make it just three wins in 19 for City.
Luton's Rob Edwards:
"I know it was a really important three points, any three points at this stage of the season are really key. But after the week we've had, backing up the four points that we got from the Saturday and Tuesday, we put the pressure on the lads a little bit, 'we've got to find a way to win this game', and they did. I felt like we lacked a little bit of that energy and that intensity in the first 20-25 minutes, I'm trying to roar on from the sidelines, but it's difficult to have an influence.
"When we played with a little bit more intensity and played forward and ran forward, got some action going, then we lifted the crowd a bit and then we did start getting some chances towards the end of that first half. I thought we deserved the goal, a bit disappointed we couldn't go on and get that second. They made one or two tweaks and began to get a little bit more control, we retained a threat on the counter-attacks as the game wore on, but we weren't able to press with the same intensity as we've been able to do in recent weeks. But that's fine, you've got to solve problems and we got over the line."
Swansea's Russell Martin:
"I'm watching the action at the end, Rob's jumped on the pitch, I told him to get off the pitch. I really like Rob, he's an ex-team-mate of mine, and then Richie got involved, so I sort of nudged him and pushed him away really, to get out of the way and not create that. Then it ended up in two red cards which I'm not convinced are necessary really but it was what it is.
"Second half, we changed formation and I liked the performance, the energy, the intensity, the fight, the aggressive mentality of the players with and without the ball. We didn't quite make enough clear-cut chances with that, but we scored a good goal which was onside, gets disallowed, which is really frustrating. I can accept defeat if we show that fight, show that mentality, show that togetherness and show that energy and the courage to play, which they did on a really difficult pitch in the second half.
"I loved that, so we need more of that. The fans' energy was excellent, they were brilliant, so we're disappointed we haven't got something from the game but the performance has energised me, especially second half."
