Woking boss Hill hails Gray as the difference

Livewire striker Andre Gray was the difference between the two teams as Luton beat Woking 3-1 at Kenilworth Road on Boxing Day according to Cards boss Garry Hill, writes Mark Wood.

Town’s pacy striker terrorised the visitors all afternoon and Hill was in no doubt it was he who was the catalyst for Luton’s win, despite his side causing the Hatters some problems in the second half.

He said: “It’s always hard. We’ve come off the back of a couple of very good league results, winning away at Lincoln City and Stockport County at home, but think when you come to Luton you can raise your game.

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“Even though Luton were the better side in the first half I would certainly say we showed a lot of character and played a lot of good football in the second half and I think that everybody that witnessed it would turn round and say, at 2-1, if there was going to be a goal there was only going to be one team who was going to score it. But Andre Gray was the difference.”

Hill had no complaints as he found his side trailing 2-0 at the break as they were battered by the Hatters in the first half.

Having conceded early on through Janos Kovacs’ header, he said: “We seemed like we’d cleared our head.

“There was a little spell after they’d scored, they had two or three chances and some desperate defending we cleared our lines.

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“You keep looking at the clock and thinking to yourself get to 45 minutes at 1-0 down.

“Because it was quite windy and blustery our there and I thought if we were 1-0 down at half time we’re certainly in the game.

“But they’ve got the second goal, we’ve had two or three chances to clear our lines, we haven’t, and all of a sudden Andre Gray, who was a problem all afternoon all credit to him, very mobile, did very, very well, had a good shot saved and all of sudden they’ve gone 2-0 up and we’ve had no complaints at half time in any way or form.

“But I think the big test of character was, a lot of people would have said when Luton went 2-0 up what’s going to happen second half? How’s this Woking team going to respond?

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“I think there were questions there to be answered by everyone. But we came from the first 15 minutes of the second half, that was the important thing.

“Then we changed our formation a little bit to hopefully try and get back in the game, which is what you’ve got to do.

“And within 30 seconds of changing our formation we got back to 2-1.”

And Hill admitted he was disappointed his side had been unable to find an equaliser after centre-half Joe McNerney had pulled one back, playing as a makeshift centre forward.

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He added: “I must be honest then, for a 15-20 minute spell it was all camped in the Luton half.

“They were defending, the game had changed dramatically in respect that their fans were getting frustrated.

“I think our supporters were getting behind us in a big way, we were gaining belief, a lot of confidence, we were spraying the ball around and we looked like a side that were really starting to cause Luton problems, there was no doubt about that.

“There were good balls into the penalty area, a penalty appeal we’re disappointed about we didn’t get at an important time.

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“We’ve got caught on the counter-attack and that’s the situation when you’re playing against quality sides, you’ve got quality players.

“We’re 2-1 down at that time, and Andre Gray, he’s done very well. He was the difference today.”

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