Luton Town extend their unbeaten run with an impressive win over deflated Hull City

Managerless Hull City crashed to their fifth successive defeat, losing out 2-0 winners to Luton Town having dismissed Shota Arveladze earlier in the day.

On a flat evening on Humberside, the home side failed to register a single shot on target with Regan Slater’s deflected shot off the crossbar in the first half, the closest they came to troubling Ethan Horvath in the Luton goal.

The vistiors will not have many more easy evenings this season, wining at a canter thanks to an Alfie Jones own goal and a 25-yard thunderbolt from Henri Lansbury.

Hull were the architects of their own downfall and found themselves behind after just six minutes. Lansbury’s disguised near post corner found Elijah Adebayo in space and as his shot crashed against the bar, the unfortunate Jones could do little about the rebound as the ball struck him on the legs and rolled into the net.

With Andy Dawson taking over managerial duties for the evening it was not the start to life in the dugout he would have wanted. To their credit, City did respond and for 20 minutes, showed determination and composure in midfield through Regan Slater and Ryan Woods to generate some momentum into the Tigers game. Lewie Coyle hit a harmless drive from the edge of the box before Ryan Longman curled narrowly over from the edge of the box.

Despite the impetus, City were guilty of sloppiness on the ball, often playing out from tight areas in defence when common sense needed to prevail. More concerning was their inability to deal with Luton’s set pieces as James Bree caused problems with his deliveries that both Dan Potts and Carlton Morris should have done better with.

With Luton looking a threat on the break, City as a collective stopped to do the things on the ball that had gotten themselves a foothold in the game. A slick break before the break, involving Adebayo and Clark forced Nathan Baxter into a good stop but as City failed to clear their lines convincingly, Coyle’s header fell to Lansbury, who smashed a superb half volley into the bottom corner.

It was the type of strike from Lansbury that has earned him moves to Nottingham Forest and Aston Villla but having found himself in the wilderness, he has returned to form for the Hatters and was a key player in their win.

Whilst Luton may have expected a reaction in the second period, City struggled to put a dent in the visitor’s rearguard.

With top scorer Oscar Estupinan isolated up front and both Ozan Tufan and Dimitrios Pelkas having little impact, it was a stale performance with City looking a shadow of the side that had seen them top the Championship table in August.

Caretaker boss Dawson tried to change things with 30 minutes to go as Tufan moved up front and Cyrus Christie was brought onto add more threat along the right hand side but other than a couple of dangerous looking balls into the box, Horvath barely had a save to make.

At full time, all questions were focussed around the drama of the day on Humberside but there was still plenty of positivity in the home camp that these are differnt times at the club. Nathan Baxter had nothing but praise for owner Acun Iliaci, describing how he is responsible for the increased numbers in the stadium and how he spoke to the players before kick off.

“It was the first time I played with the crowd behind me. And you know, that’s Acun.  Without Acun, the stadium would not be like this. And he’s so positive. It was quite a moving speech that he gave us and the sort of thing that you want from your manager.

“He’s obviously a leader and a focal point at this club and it got the boys going. We actually didn’t start the game too badly. We kept the ball, we played well and then we’ve just conceded a set play, it was just one of those but with the run that we’re on, we can’t keep saying we’re unlucky.”

Andy Dawson was defiant in his post match comments that his squad can turn things around. He was relatively pleased with his sides efforts and could not fault their endeavour across the pitch.

“I’m not making excuses because that’s the game. I’m a big believer in that the harder you work, the luckier you get. And that’s what we’ve said to them. You keep doing the right things, you keep being brave in possession, you keep winning first contact headers, you keep winning second balls, and then you’re brave to get on the ball. You’ll get your luck in the end.

“It’s obviously difficult for them (the players) at the moment as we’ve lost five on the bounce but do they have enough belief? Do they have enough quality to turn it around? Without a shadow of a doubt.”

So what next for City? With the worse defensive record in the league, they are lacking the identify to grind results out with overseas imports still finding their feet in The Championship. It remains to be seen who will be next in the hot seat at the MKM Stadium, but it does appear that City need to find some know how to cope with the rigours of the league and to motivate a squad that possesses plenty of potential.

The XI that started looked more than capable of holding it’s own but confidence is a huge factor at this point as they proved at vital points last season, it would be churlish to write the Tigers’ season off. They have the opportunity to turn things around on Wednesday evening with Wigan Athletic next up at home.

For Luton, their win was an impressive one away from home, building on their 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers before the international break. Jordan Clark with Elijah Adebayo looking every ounce a top Championship striker but to a man, the Hatters were solid as a unit and managed the second half of the game with relative ease.

Nathan Jones was delighted with his players at full time in a professional performace away from Kenilworth Road.

“We were brave, we were bold and we were athletic, and that’s what we do. Whether we get the credit or not, we play a certain way and we’re very effective. We know what we do and so I’m really pleased with them.

“I’m really pleased with how we go about our work, we defended our box wonderfully, and our game management second half was superb. I can’t remember them having a chane in the whole game. All the big chances came to us and it’s good to come away from home and have the big chances.”

 

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