Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Millwall and Luton Town at The Den on Saturday | Teden Megen's fine first-half strike seals a first win of the season for Rob Edwards' Hatters.
Saturday 14 September 2024 15:48, UK
Teden Mengi's superb finish at The Den gave Luton a much-needed first win of the season as they edged past Millwall 1-0 in the Sky Bet Championship.
It ended the Hatters' winless run of 11 games that extended back to April last season - just before their relegation from the Premier League - and lifted them away from the division's bottom three.
They certainly will not have worried that their winner came from an unlikely source as former Manchester United defender Mengi struck just the second goal of his career.
The first chance went the way of Millwall captain Jake Cooper in the eighth minute when he was allowed a bit of space from George Honeyman's corner, with his header looping over.
Luton came alive in the 10th minute when Tahith Chong's deflected cross was cleared as far as Alfie Doughty, whose shot was kept out by Lions goalkeeper Lukas Jensen's feet.
The rebound fell to Marvelous Nakamba then Liam Walsh, who laid the ball off for Mengi to strike a sweet first-time shot from outside the area into the bottom corner, leaving Jensen a mere spectator.
Casper De Norre tried to re-energise the Lions with a shot from 25 yards, but this was comfortably dealt with by Luton keeper Thomas Kaminski.
The Hatters were then inches away from a second after 22 minutes when Chong outmuscled his marker following Doughty's free-kick before his shot on the turn came back off a post.
Mengi almost doubled his tally for the afternoon in first-half stoppage time when his volley was well saved by Jensen after Millwall could not clear Doughty's corner.
De Norre had another shot from distance that went over early in the second half before Walsh had an effort saved by Jensen at the other end as the contest stayed in the balance.
Another chance for Luton to extend their lead came in the 62nd minute when Walsh's cross was cleared only as far as Chong, who shot just wide of the near post.
The Hatters were holding the hosts at arm's length, but they could not afford to relax as Walsh passed up a great opportunity to open up clear daylight by shooting straight at Jensen from inside the area.
A sloppy pass from Pelly Ruddock then led to Millwall's best chance of the game after 81 minutes when Duncan Watmore put Macauley Langstaff through on goal, only for Kaminski to stand tall and deflect his effort behind.
The Belgian then ensured his side finally tasted that winning feeling again when he pushed away Shaun Hutchinson's header from George Saville's corner in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Millwall's Neil Harris:
"The press was really good, I'm never going to question the application of my players at Millwall, but the application and desire was there, there were some real moments of quality in our team today.
"We mixed up - we knew how to play direct, but we went round the outside and through the thirds and played with some real flair at times.
"I thought our movement was excellent, but the final end produced was what went missing for us today and that is the difference, unfortunately, at all levels of football, and that was the difference today.
"What I will also add is I was slightly disappointed with the manner of the goal - I thought we could have done more to keep the ball out of our net.
"We gave them the utmost respect, as always when a team comes out of the Premier League, but I thought we were the better team."
Luton's Rob Edwards:
"In the end, they sort of wore us down and there were a lot of long free-kicks and long throws.
"It just became a real battle, which was disappointing, to be honest.
"They know it's important to try and win a game when you're 1-0 up and it becomes a bit more frantic, and the fans are having a go, and obviously the whole feel and emotion around the place is tense when the win is on the line.
"It is pleasing to do it in the end and we needed our goalkeeper a couple of times, which was disappointing, from the corner and from one of own giveaways, a couple of brilliant saves from Thomas.
"But when you come here you have to show some character, some fight, which we asked for at the very beginning, and we showed that.
"People had been making out a lot that we hadn't won for a bit, but the monkey's off our back now."
