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Luton Town 1-1 Wolves – Full Report
By JOEL REED at Kenilworth Road
Wolverhampton Wanderers man of the moment Carl Cort hit his fifth goal of the season to take his team tantalisingly close to securing their first away victory of the season – but Luton skipper Kevin Nicholls spoiled the party as he drilled a late equaliser to salvage a richly deserved point for his side.
Since their promotion to the Coca-Cola Championship back in May, Luton Town have made the transition to English football’s second-tier with flying colours; their modest home ground – Kenilworth Road – has been turned in to one of the strongest fortresses in the division and their walls have so far failed to be breached by Southampton, Leeds United and Millwall respectively.
And yesterday Wolves joined that list of prestigious clubs, who have made the journey to the South East and come away without three points; but following this hard-fought spectacle Glenn Hoddle and his side will have counted their lucky stars to have taken a point back up the motorway to Molineux.
Wolves were at times outplayed by Luton’s attacking flow and a lot of credit must be given to the Wanderers central defensive partnership of Gabor Gyepes, who made his league debut, and Joleon Lescott, who showed just why he was today named the Coca-Cola Championship Player of the Month for August, as they both stood resolute against an onslaught of long balls in to the penalty area, winning countless towering headers to keep Luton at bay.
And it was just as well that Lescott and Gyepes were on top of their game, as for the first 25 minutes of the match, Wolves were knocked back in to their own half and rode their luck as Luton dominated chances and possession.
Despite Gyepes almost heading home Darren Anderton’s corner-kick on six minutes, it was Luton who could and should have broken the deadlock.
Warren Feeney looked to have been brought down erratically by Wolves goalkeeper Michael Oakes in the penalty-area in the opening exchanges of the match, but screams for a penalty were waved away calmly by referee Lee Probert.
Two minutes later Feeney was once again brought down - this time by Wolves skipper Mark Kennedy 18 yards out – and Luton’s Steve Howard miss-timed his header at the far post following the resulting free-kick played deep in to the box.
Despite Oakes almost giving away a penalty minutes earlier, the keeper then saved his side, when Sol Davis’ cross was met by the head of Ahmet Brkovic and the former Aston Villa stopper dived full length to his left hand side to make a top class one-handed save.
With Luton fully in control it was to everybody’s surprise when against the run of play Wolves took an undeserved lead 20 minutes before the interval.
Anderton playing effectively in the position similar to Chelsea’s Claude Makelele - just in front of the defence - played a long ball out to Kennedy who had room on the wing to whip in a cross to the far post where in-form striker Cort, who scored a hat-trick in his last league match against QPR, ghosted in to slide the ball in to the net and leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the home crowd.
Luton’s frustration at their wretched luck had been simmering in the lead up to Cort’s opener as they failed to turn their vast amount of chances in to goals, but when the former Newcastle United hit-man put the visitors ahead to leave them trailing it hit boiling point!
Hatters boss Mike Newell was given his marching orders by Probert following an incident after the half-time whistle was blown. Newell looked like he kicked the match ball aggressively at official, as his side went in to the break 1-0 down, but following the match Newell denied any wrong doing.
Newell said: "I was supposed to have kicked the ball at him in an aggressive manner but he takes the ball off so I passed it to him."
Wolves began the second-half in similar fashion to that of the first, being pegged back by Luton for sustained periods of time, and the home side were by now frantically trying to find a reply.
Paul Underwood found space five minutes after the interval on the edge of the box, but his fierce shot was deflected wide off a Wolves defender for a corner, which came to nothing.
Hoddle sacrificed Anderton just after the hour mark for Nigerian international Seyi George Olofinjana, but the move didn’t pay dividends as Luton continued going close.
And after fighting tooth and nail to get a goal for the entire match Luton were finally handed their reward when skipper Kevin Nicholls scored 12 minutes from time, drilling a low 20 yard shot under the diving Oakes in to the bottom corner.
Hatters substitute Enoch Showunmi had a chance to gift his side the three points in the closing stages of the match, but his wildly swung leg missed the loose ball in the penalty area and Lescott cleared the danger.
Olofinjana could have delivered a killer blow to Luton in the final minute of the game, but his close-range shot was tipped round the post superbly by Marlon Beresford.
Wolves 24-7 Man of the Match – JOLEON LESCOTT
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