Luton make it 10 unbeaten at Kenilworth Road by beating play-off rivals Bradford

Luton Town delivered their most complete performance of the season as they produced a hugely encouraging display to beat fellow play-off hopefuls Bradford City at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

Facing a Bantams side who came to play clearly helped the hosts as, with Kasey Palmer bossing the midfield once more, they managed an impressive 17 shots, with seven on target, goals from Jake Richards and Shayden Morris enough to extend the Hatters’ unbeaten record on home soil to 10 matches.

Boss Jack Wilshere handed January signing Devante Cole an immediate debut in the number nine role as Nahki Wells dropped to the bench, while Richards replaced the injured Cohen Bramall. With City instantly looking to have more intent than most of Luton’s visitors to Bedfordshire this term, Town had to dig in early on, but soon threatened at the other end, Jordan Clark shooting across goal, as he appeared to get cleaned out afterwards, but referee Richard Eley waved away the penalty appeals, while Richards had a pop that deflected wide.

Clark then did well to take a ball out of the sky and with Morris to his right, went for goal himself, his attempt taking a flick off Cole and forcing Sam Walker into a sprawling stop. With Teden Mengi requiring treatment after jarring his ankle, he was off the pitch when Bradford really should have taken the lead, Jenson Metcalfe arriving in the box to thankfully fire over the bar.

Stepping up to free kick duties in Bramall’s absence, full back Joe Johnson had a go on 28 minutes, his attempt not coming down in time, while opportunities were sparse from then on, Tyreik Wright off target after a clever corner routine. During the latter stages of the first period, Luton started to purr, Mengi beginning a number of moves from defence, the first seeing Palmer’s nutmeg find Richards whose pass released Clark and he bent his shot beyond the keeper only to see it bounce away off the crossbar.

Town were just warming up though, as they manufactured another lovely passage of play on the left hand side with 39 minutes gone, Mengi starting things once more. Johnson and Gideon Kodua were both involved, as Richards took up a great position centrally some 20 yards out, the midfielder needing no second invitation to take advantage of the space afforded to him and rifle a shot into the bottom corner for his third goal of the campaign.

Luton went hunting for a second too, Clark nipping in to win the ball back high up, and having another go which was deflected over for a corner that saw Andersen tee up his centre half partner Mengi who dragged wide, throwing his head back in frustration. Needing to begin the second half in the same way they finished the first, something Town have struggled with this term, Wilshere’s men didn’t, almost coming undone immediately, a cross dinked to the far post where an unmarked Kayden Jackson connected with fresh air.

The Hatters put a major dent in City’s hopes of returning home with something tangible though as they made it 2-0 on 55 minutes, Richards winning the ball back and finding Clark who released Morris, the winger bursting into the box before cutting inside his man to sidefoot beyond Walker. Ex-Luton player Graham Alexander made a triple substitution following the goal and it should have led to his side pulling one back on 62 minutes, when on-loan Manchester United youngster Ethan Wheatley went clean through with just Keeley to beat, shooting tamely at the Luton stopper.

The contest became an entertaining end-to-end affair as Keeley batted a a cross out that saw Town scramble the ball away, before the hosts ought really to have had a third, Kodua skipping past his man on the left and carrying on going, unable to beat the imposing frame of Walker. Refreshingly, Luton didn’t try and just hold what they had, with their midfield of Palmer and Clark in particular excelling, as Johnson set off on a rampaging run to find Izzy Jones, who had come on with new signing Davy van den Berg, but couldn’t get the bend that was required on his shot, while the outstanding Palmer played him in again, Walker coming to the rescue.

Van den Berg showed plenty of nice touches on his debut, involved in the move that saw Clark slam another shot straight at Walker as Bradford were struggling to look like coming back into the contest, Metcalfe slicing over. Late on the action didn’t show any signs of slowing down, Mads Andersen, who was absolutely terrific in the air all game long, showing his ground skills were just as good, getting out to block Wheatley.

Palmer almost capped his superb display with his first goal after good work from Ali Al-Hamadi, but Walker was equal to his effort, while Keeley made a superb stop to prevent Humphrys from starting to jangle the nerves. With seven minutes added on, it looked like Town were home and hosed after six of them, but the nerves did get a jangle when Humphrys was able to get the better of Johnson to Antoni Sarcevic’s ball over the top and beat Keeley to make it 2-1.

An even later corner followed but when played back to Metcalfe he once more showed he had left his shooting boots in Yorkshire, as the Hatters terrific home record carried on as they continue to breathe life into their hopes of reaching the top six.

Hatters: Josh Keeley, Nigel Lonwijk, Mads Andersen, Teden Mengi, Joe Johnson, Kasey Palmer, Jordan Clark (C, George Saville 83), Gideon Kodua (Nahki Wells 77), Shayden Morris (Izzy Jones 68), Jake Richards (Davy van den Berg 67), Devante Cole (Ali Al-Hamadi 83). Subs not used: James Shea, Kal Naismith.

Bantams: Sam Walker, Ibou Touray, Max Power ©, Josh Neufville (Lee Evans 85), Paul Mullin (Ethan Wheatley 61), Aden Baldwin, Tyreik Wright (Stephen Humphrys 61), Kayden Jackson (Antoni Sarcevic 61), Jenson Metcalfe, Curtis Tilt, Matthew Pennington (Bobby Painton 74). Subs not used: Joe Hilton, Joe Wright. Booked: Tilt 27, Neufville 42, Palmer 67, Keeley 75. Referee: Richard Eley. Attendance: 11,000 (1,343 Bantams).