Sheffield United vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Bramall LaneAttendance27,925.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield United and Luton Town at Bramall Lane on Saturday; Jesurun Rak-Sakyi scores twice as the unbeaten Blades seal a comfortable win over the struggling Hatters.
Saturday 5 October 2024 19:05, UK
A masterful 22nd birthday performance from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi gave Sheffield United an assured 2-0 victory over struggling Luton at Bramall Lane.
A goal in each half from the Crystal Palace loanee gave the Blades a comfortable win over the Hatters, who offered little on the day.
Victory for the Blades drew them level on points with Sunderland at the top of the Championship table.
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder made six changes from the 1-0 win over Swansea, with Alfie Gilchrist, Sam McCallum, Ollie Arblaster, Rhian Brewster, Kieffer Moore and Rak-Sakyi joining the starting XI.
Luton manager Rob Edwards made just the one switch to the side that drew 2-2 with Oxford, with Reuell Walters coming in for Jacob Brown.
The home side had the first opening as Rak-Sakyi got in behind the Hatters defence but Walters recovered well to stop him from pulling the trigger.
The winger did get his first goal on 12 minutes. Anel Ahmedhodzic hooked the ball back into the danger zone and Rak-Sakyi did brilliantly to wriggle past Walters and Mark McGuinness before emphatically finishing past Thomas Kaminski.
The Blades continued their domination as Callum O'Hare played in Moore after nicking the ball off the Luton defence but Kaminski got down well to keep him out with his feet. Vinicius Souza then saw his effort from range saved.
Rak-Sakyi was involved once again in the last chance of the half as he got a shot away after showing some quick feet but Kaminski was equal to it once more.
It was more of the same after the break as Rak-Sakyi came agonisingly close to turning in Brewster's teasing cross.
The youngster finally got the second goal his performance deserved in the 52nd minute. Rak-Sakyi skilfully got past Walters and fired through the legs of Kaminski to double the Blades' advantage.
Brewster looked to get himself on the scoresheet in his first start of the season but his drive from range was pushed away by the Luton keeper.
The away side brought on Brown and Cauley Woodrow to try and get back into the game while the Blades added Andre Brooks and top scorer Gustavo Hamer into the mix.
Souza came inches away from making it three but the midfielder saw his effort come back off the post. Substitute Brown came closest to giving the Hatters hope but his header sailed over the bar.
United saw the game out to continue their run as the only team to remain unbeaten in the Championship this season.
Luton remain just one place above the relegation zone in 21st.
Sheffield United's Chris Wilder:
"It's been a good win for us today, we played well. We kept doing the right things and wore them into submission and I'm delighted with the performance and the result.
"We worked really hard to get Jesurun (Rak-Sakyi) in this summer so I'd like to thank the board for letting me push on that one. He was at his very best today and we want to see more of that.
"The confidence that will give him and the belief, we understand that's what forward players are there to do but we're there as a team to win games of football. We're on a nice little run at the moment.
"You go on that nonsense social media and bits and pieces and 'nobody's done this' or 'nobody's done that', 'where are we going to get the goals from?' and all stuff like that. The young boys are finding their way, we have new players finding their way in a new system.
"There's a lot of big tests coming up, it's going to be a big month for us.
Luton's Rob Edwards:
"You can lose here at the moment with the form that they're in and the form that we're in but there's a way to do it.
"This is on me and I've got to fix it. We'll work hard and try and support the players on the training pitch to make sure we can fix the areas we're not doing so well in at the moment.
"We changed things as we wanted to give ourselves more solidity but the two goals we conceded which have ultimately cost us the game were really disappointing.
"In this job you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. I got asked why I didn't change things, we do change it, it doesn't work, it's difficult at the moment."
