Relief for Marriott but he wished Dons goal counted for more

Marriott, who had scored seven goals in his first 13 games after joining from Ipswich Town in the summer, was on a run of just one in 16 before Saturday.

His ninth of the season, a terrific turn and shot into the roof of the net against AFC Wimbledon was his first since November 24, some 10 games ago, as Marriott said: “I’m really glad to get on the scoresheet again, it’s not been for a while.

“It was just instinct, I knew he was quite tight on me, so as the ball came in, I just tried to roll him and luckily its come to me quite nicely.

“I’ve managed to hit it as hard I could and it was nice to see it hit the crossbar and go in.

“I’m glad to have come in and made a nice contribution, so hopefully I can add more until the end of the season and really make a push, but it’s a bit shallow.

“I got on the scoresheet, but it would really have meant a lot more if we had got something out of the game.”

Marriott had been hoping his goal would have triggered an unlikely comeback, as Luton had 30 minutes to try and score three times.

The closest they came though was when Cameron McGeehan’s effort was ruled out for offside as he said: “You hope you get a little glimmer of light which luckily I got and we were unlucky not get a second.

“You never know, if Cam’s goal is given, it could have been 4-4.

“We’re hoping for two goals in quick succession like they did, hit them with a bit of their medicine, but it wasn’t to be.”

Town’s defending on the day was their major downfall though as they weren’t a patch on the side who had kept three clean sheets in five games previously.

Marriott couldn’t put his finger on quite why they were so bad after a good week on the training pitch, as he said: “I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t got a clue.

“It was just one of those where it was four crosses that we’ve conceded from.

“It’s just come out of nowhere as we’ve had such a good training week, done a lot of work on our shape and I really don’t know what happened.”