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Whiz-kid Foley starts the ball rolling with his first competitive goal
Hatters 4 Yeovil 1
HATTERS put on a super second-half show to storm into the second round of the Carling Cup tonight.
Whiz-kid Kevin Foley fired them in front with his first competitive goal for Luton in the 24th minute, only to see Yeovil pull level seconds after the restart.
Then the floodgates opened as Tony Thorpe, Courtney Pitt and Steve Howard goals had the Football League new boys wishing they had stayed at home.
Luton started with the same 11 that beat Rushden and Diamonds on Saturday.
But there was a change on the substitutes' bench, with Ahmet Brkovic absent after picking up a hamstring injury.
The action was preceded by a perfectly-observed minute's silence in memory of former Hatters' manager Ray Harford, who passed away at the weekend after a battle against cancer.
Both sides started the game with quick passing football.
And it was Yeovil who threatened first when Gavin Williams raced unchallenged to the edge of the Luton area and saw his left-foot strike deflected narrowly past Robert Beckwith's left-hand post on eight minutes.
Luton responded within seconds and Thorpe's clever back-heel allowed Pitt to cross, almost finding Kevin Nicholls at the far post.
From the resulting corner Thorpe's volley was hacked off the line.
Chris Coyne was the first player to enter the referee's book on 13 minutes for a foul from behind on Kirk Jackson – although the Luton defender did appear to get a boot on the ball first.
The home side took the lead on 24 minutes when Foley's positive run and pass on the right found Paul Hughes just inside the box and his lay-off allowed the teenager to drill low past Chris Weale for his first competitive goal for the Hatters.
Pitt and Howard followed Coyne in being booked by referee Lee Cable.
Then great trickery from Pitt took him clear of Adam Lockwood in 42nd minute and, although the winger's cross was over-hit, Nicholls was able to centre from the right for Howard, who headed wide.
Luton continued to dominate and Nicholls forced Weale to scramble to his left to push the skipper's 25-yard free-kick round the post in the 44th minute.
The last action of the first-half saw Howard race clear to test Weale and from the rebound the keeper did very well to recover and push away Pitt's goalbound follow-up.
Straight after the interval Beckwith produced a magnificent block from Darren Way on the edge of the six-yard box.
But when the ball was returned into the area by Lee Johnson, Emmerson Boyce inadvertently headed past his stranded keeper.
Kirk Jackson then shot just wide with a quick Yeovil free-kick three minutes later, but Thorpe restored Luton's lead on 55 minutes with a clever finish to slip the ball under Weale.
The Hatters' forward ran on to Howard's through ball and, although he appeared to lose control on the right-hand side of the area, he emerged with the ball to finish in style from six yards.
Then, in the 64th minute, Hatters struck again when Pitt's free-kick on the left beat everyone to nestle in the corner of the goal.
Howard made the game safe for Hatters when he scored their fourth goal in the 68th minute to complete a memorable night for the Hatters.
LUTON TOWN: Robert Beckwith, Alan Neilson, Matthew Spring, Kevin Nicholls, Tony Thorpe, Chris Coyne, Courtney Pitt, Emmerson Boyce, Steve Howard, Paul Hughes, Kevin Foley. Subs: David Bayliss, Sol Davis, Dean Brill (gk), Dean Crowe, Parys Okai.
YEOVIL TOWN: Chris Weale, Adam Lockwood, Darren Way, Lee Johnson, Kevin Gall, Nick Crittenden, Hugo Rodrigues, Roy O'Brien, Kirk Jackson, Gavin Williams, Jamie Gosling. Subs: Abdelhalim El Kholti, Adam Stansfield, Steve Collis (gk), Steve Reed, Andy Lindegaard.
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Weather for Luton
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
