Luton celebrate Lockyer's recovery in style as Townsend scores to beat Magpies

Luton celebrated the recovery of skipper Tom Lockyer in the perfect manner possible as Andros Townsend's first goal for the club saw Town pick up a second home win of the season by beating Newcastle United this afternoon.

Following one of the toughest weeks in the club's history, after the Hatters skipper suffered a cardiac arrest at AFC Bournemouth last weekend, thankfully released from hospital on Thursday, boss Rob Edwards called on supporters to use the fixture to acknowledge the popular Welsh international being well enough to return home in the week.

He also wanted a performance from his side as well, and he got both on an emotionally charged 90 minutes in Bedfordshire, Town taking one of their biggest scalps of the campaign in the process.

The Hatters made one change for the contest, Gabe Osho coming in for Lockyer, as Luton made an impressive start to the contest, Ross Barkley and Albert Sambi Lokonga knocking the ball around confidently, Townsend's cross deflecting behind off a stretching defender.

Jacob Brown then surged forward and fired straight at Martin Dubravka from 20 yards, as the ground rose as one on four minutes in support of Town defender Lockyer, who was hopefully watching on at home. Having had well over 60 percent possession in the early stages, the hosts couldn't quite make the most of it and were indebted to a stunning block from Issa Kabore to keep them on level terms, Lokonga following up with another that team-mate Lockyer would have been proud of.

With Newcastle beginning to get to grips with the early pressure, the visitors were denied by another brave Osho intervention from Bruno Guimaraes' powerful strike, before they appeared destined to take the lead with 19 minutes gone, Anthony Gordon's wonderful cross bamboozling the home defence where the completely unmarked Wilson was odds on to score.

He headed straight at Kaminski from four yards out, the keeper parrying, with skipper for the day Amari'i Bell fortunate to see the rebound hit him and somehow end up bouncing over the bar.

At the other end, Townsend showed the England striker how it should be done on 25 minutes, Alfie Doughty winning a corner and swinging it over for Barkley to glance on, the former Magpies winger stooping to nod home from a few yards out, going straight over to the dug-out and collect Lockyer's number four shirt to display to all sides of the ground.

One almost became two as Barkley picked up the ball a good 30 yards from goal and simply hammered it towards the top corner, desperately unfortunate to see his effort cannon against the underside of the bar and hit the prostrate Dubravka, only to bounce away from the goal. Buoyed by that, Barkley then picked up a clearance from Kaminski and just ran at the defence, picking out Adebayo who only had Dubravka to beat, but on this occasion, the Slovakian knew what he was doing, sticking out a leg to repel the first time attempt.

Newcastle's well documented injury problems hit again on 37 minutes, as skipper Jamaal Lascelles pulled up and had to go off, Sven Botman coming on, while boss Eddie Howe also chose to withdraw teenage midfielder Lewis Miley, striker Alexander Isak taking his place.

Not affected by the break in play, Luton then produced a marvellous team move, started by the increasingly influential Lokonga which ended in Townsend spinning to send in a low shot that Dubravka gathered low to his right. Any thoughts that the Magpies wouldn't still retain a threat though showed as with Luton switching off for a moment, a ball into the area found Miguel Almiron left unattended and he turned to curl into the stands.

Town brought on Ryan Giles at the start of the second half for Issa Kabore, who picked up a slight knock after a terrific opening 45 minutes, as he went over to the left wingback role, Doughty switching to the right. Luton almost doubled their advantage on 49 minutes too, Adebayo doing brilliantly to find Brown who sidestepped Kieran Trippier and whistled a drive that beat Dubravka only to slam against the crossbar.

United responded well though, a short corner routine leaving Guimaraes completely isolated on the edge of the box with all the time in the world to pick his spot, but thankfully for Luton fans, that was the advertising hoardings. Trippier then broke away on the right, his ball toe-poked into the side-netting as the Magpies started to look a real danger.

Town dug in though and were able to throw some jabs of their own, Teden Mengi trying to take the visiting defence on by himself only to slice well wide. With an hour gone, Newcastle thought they had levelled, Almiron sliding a pass through the legs of Bell to find Isak and his shot nestled in the corner. A referee's assistant flag cut short the visitors' joy, with VAR checking whether the attacker had gone too early, the officials at Stockley Park ruling he had, and to the relief of the home crowd, it was disallowed.

Town looked to hit back themselves and get a nerve-calming second, Brown's intricate flick for Giles to get away on the left, his shot parried by Dubravka, with Ross Barkley lining up another drive that was deflected. After Barkley's earlier yellow, Dan Bun somehow escaped punishment for a worse incident, as that saw United start a move that ended with Guimaraes' low shot kicked away by Kaminski.

With 15 to go, Bell went off with what was hopefully just a touch of cramp, as Mads Andersen returned for the first time since the 1-0 defeat to Spurs back in October. As legs clearly tired, Luton made a triple change, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Chiedozie Ogbene and Carlton Morris for Lokonga, Adebayo and Townsend, as the visitors began to look increasingly like they would score yet another late goal at Kenilworth Road.

Osho heroically blocked one such attack, but with Barkley in the side, anything remained possible, the midfielder picking up a ball on the edge of the box, finding space and missing narrowly.

Seven minutes of stoppage time added, but unlike the matches against Liverpool and Arsenal, this time Luton were able to keep their opponents at arm’s length and not let the points slip away, as they secured a third victory of the season and a first clean sheet as well, to a huge outpouring of emotion from the stands.

Hatters: Thomas Kaminski, Issa Kabore (Ryan Giles 46), Teden Mengi, Gabe Osho, Amari'i Bell (C Mads Andersen 76), Alfie Doughty, Albert Sambi Lokonga (Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu 80), Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend (Chiedozie Ogbene 80), Jacob Brown, Elijah Adebayo (Carlton Morris 80).

Subs not used: Tim Krul, Jordan Clark, Tahith Chong, Cauley Woodrow.

Magpies: Martin Dubravka, Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Jamaal Lascelles (C Sven Botman 38), Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Miguel Almiron (Tino Livramento 81), Dan Burn (Lewis Hall 85), Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes, Lewis Miley (Alexander Isak 38).

Subs not used: Lorius Karius, Paul Dummett, Matt Ritchie, Emil Krafth, Alex Murphy.

Referee: Darren England.

Booked: Barkley 55, Mengi 88, Hall 90.

Attendance: 11,042 (Magpies 1,145).

Mike Simmonds

Sports Editor

Luton News

07841 647009

@LutonNews_LTFC