Swansea City vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance16,323.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Swansea City and Luton Town at the Swansea.com Stadium as Nathan Jones' Hatters claimed their first victory of the season on Saturday.
Saturday 20 August 2022 18:26, UK
Nathan Jones' Luton finally got their season up and running as they knocked Swansea off their stride to win 2-0 and record their first win of the season at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The Hatters had scored only once across their previous four Sky Bet Championship games, drawing with Birmingham and Burnley before losing back-to-back games to Preston and Bristol.
They still came into the game ahead of their hosts in the table even though the Swans had picked up their first win at Blackpool a week earlier.
Home boss Russell Martin rested linchpin defender Kyle Naughton, bringing Wales international Ben Cabango into a back three, but was forced to take him off the bench and thrust him into the thick of the action at the start of the second half.
Jones' plan to press high and put Swansea under pressure worked superbly in the first half and led the visitors opening the scoring in the 14th minute. Cabango was forced into conceding a corner and then a throw-in before Nathan Wood gave away another corner.
The ball was swung in from the right and Andy Fisher punched away under pressure, although only to Allan Campbell on the edge of the box. He set himself and fired home a left-footed shot to take the lead.
Swansea's top scorer from last season Joel Piroe had a shot blocked in the six-yard box in the opening minutes, but it was not until Cameron Congreve was introduced in the 68th minute that the home side had a shot on target from him immediately after being introduced.
Having gone into the break 1-0 ahead, but massively behind in terms of possession, Luton continued to frustrate Swansea with their aggression and desire. The home side were impotent in front of goal and shaky at the back.
Jones replaced front-runners Admiral Muskwe and Elija Adebayo with the equally abrasive Carlton Morris and Cameron Jerome on the hour mark and it was Morris who came up with the second goal moments after forcing Fisher to save a stinging shot at his right post.
There was no stopping Morris' second effort in the 72nd minute as he linked up with Jerome in a break-out. Jerome beat Harry Darling on the right and then Morris twisted and turned past Cabango on the left before firing across goal into the opposite corner.
Coming on the back of a 2-2 draw at home against Millwall in midweek, when two own goals at the death cost them two points, this was another major setback for Martin and his team. They have now gone seven games this season and last without a win at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Swansea's Russell Martin: "We've let the two minutes of madness on Tuesday night seep into the start again. Box to box, I watch with pride at how we play football. Both boxes today, in our box on Tuesday, for two minutes, it's just not convincing enough. There wasn't enough aggression and we paid for it at the second phase again. We let Cameron Jerome turn inside the pitch and let Carlton Morris one-ono-ne with Ben Cabango. It's those moments that are costing us.
"Between both boxes, we're doing unbelievable stuff. Before today, we were really close to a successful start to the season. We have a really young group who haven't been able to cope with the anxiety. I actually think two away games will be good for them. We have young men who are trying to learn and get through those moments."
Luton's Nathan Jones: "We were terrible in midweek and went away from being us, but today we were outstanding. Our discipline was great and out of possession it was as good a performance as you will see. We denied them very little and we looked a threat. It was the perfect away performance. They are a very good technical side who pack the middle of the park. I watched them against Millwall and they could have been out of sight.
"But I thought we were brilliant and when we brought on the finishers we upped the tempo. That was my team again today. We are in and around it in the table and we want to start climbing from here. I'm proud of that performance and we know where we are as a team. We work hard as a team and we are hungry and humble. We won't get carried away, but this is something to build on in a really long season."
