Luton Town vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth RoadAttendance11,386.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Luton Town and Hull City at Kenilworth Road on Saturday; Mark McGuinness earns narrow victory for Hatters to ease pressure on Rob Edwards.
Saturday 23 November 2024 18:39, UK
Luton bounced back from their 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Middlesbrough before the international break with a welcome three points and clean sheet by beating a wasteful Hull 1-0 at Kenilworth Road.
The visitors made by far the brighter start as winger Abu Kamar's pace was apparent, speeding away from Reece Burke with his low cross forcing Teden Mengi to stab over his own bar.
Town then began to try and get into proceedings, Carlton Morris's shot deflected behind for a corner that Shandon Baptiste sent over, Mengi heading straight at Croatian keeper Ivor Pandur.
Hull maintained the ascendancy though, Xavier Simons slicing waywardly over the top from outside the box.
Despite Hull being the better team, it was Luton who took the lead on 33 minutes when another Baptiste corner caused problems, flicking off a defender's head and landing at the feet of Mark McGuinness who was able to swivel and half volley in his first goal for the club.
City should have levelled on 38 minutes though, Lewie Coyle's terrific cross met by the lurking Joao Pedro, but he somehow directed his glancing header wide of the target.
After the break, Luton made a better start to proceedings, as Tom Holmes' excellent right-wing cross was headed tamely wide by Elijah Adebayo.
The Tigers looked to keep the ball once more though, Coyle having another crack from range, sending it over the top.
City should have restored parity on 51 minutes as Regan Slater's marvellous low cross was met by Pedro who sidefooted against the post from eight yards out, his second major miss of the afternoon.
Two Liam Walsh corners caused danger for the hosts, who were thankful to the covering Mengi once more as he slid in to stop the lively Kamara's cross from reaching its intended target.
Kamara saw his route to goal blocked by the dogged Holmes, as Luton thought they had a second when McGuinness hammered home a stunning volley into the top corner, but the flag was already raised for the ball going out of play before he met it.
Kaminski was called into his first real action of the day on 77 minutes, as he parried substitute Kasey Palmer's fierce drive away from goal, England U21 international Mengi completing the job.
The Belgian then made a terrific stop late on when Palmer's curler deflected off McGuinness, Town's number one able to adjust his body and repel the effort.
Luton's Tahith Chong could not make the most of a break before ex-Hatter Cody Drameh sliced wide, sub Chris Bedia volleying badly wide from close range with virtually his first touch to prevent the Tigers from stealing a stoppage-time point.
Luton's Rob Edwards:
"It (victory) was important, but what was important was the process of it all.
"I can't control the result and what was ultimately going to happen today but what was important was the way the lads stuck at it, showed some spirit, character, kept fighting to the end, in a really difficult game, so that's the most important thing.
"Seeing the fans at the end as well, it gave me a lot of heart, so it was a good day. Hull are a really difficult, complex team to play against and I admire a lot of what he does, Tim, with his team and how they play.
"It was a difficult day and then we had the curveball of having to change the team not long before the game as well.
"It kind of sums us up at the moment and has done for quite a long time, but full credit to the lads that went out and played, they were brilliant, subs included as they made a good impact as well."
Hull's Tim Walter:
"It's the same, a replay from the other games that we played the last seven weeks, but at the end, they took one set-piece to score and we didn't.
"We weren't able to score and that's the moment, but what I saw was a good character from my team, because they're fighting until the end.
"They tried to fight against a loss and that's important to have and they created, we had a lot of possession, we played a different style, we played not just from the back short, we played long balls and I'm very happy about my team.
"They want to score, that's all they want, they want to shoot them in, they want to score before, but on Tuesday it's the next opportunity to score and to shoot goals and that's all I can expect.
"They still showed a lot of confidence and a lot of conviction and that's all I can see at the moment on the pitch."
