Luton Town 2-1 Crystal Palace. Jacob Brown scored a dramatic late winner as Luton Town beat Crystal Palace to earn their first victory at home in the Premier League the season.
It took until the second half for the game to spark into life, with one of the few moments of note in the first period when Odsonne Edouard’s goal was ruled out because the ball ricocheted off Luton defender Tom Lockyer and onto the Palace striker’s hand.
That escape energised Luton and Teden Mengi poked home a loose ball in the box after a flick-on from a corner to break the deadlock.
But a brilliant piece of individual skill from Michael Olise saw the Palace winger chop inside and curl past Thomas Kaminski from a tight angle to level within two minutes.
However Scotland striker Brown put the Hatters back again when he turned home a pinpoint Chiedozie Ogbene pass from close range in the 81st minute.
Luton are now four points clear of the relegation zone while Crystal Palace sit in 15th place.
There was further gloom for Palace because Eberechi Eze and Cheick Doucoure were both forced off in the second half, the latter being carried off on a stretcher.
Luton were handed an unexpected boost of Everton’s 10-point deduction moving them outside of the relegation places during the international break, but they still sat uncomfortably close to the drop zone.
It required a spirited performance from Rob Edwards’ men to finally achieve a home victory in the face of a battling Palace side.
Luton goalkeeper Kaminski produced a fine double save in the first half to deny Eze and Jeffrey Schlupp in quick succession while Ogbene, Carlton Morris and Amari’i Bell tested Sam Johnstone.
Luton struggled to pick out the final pass until late into the game, but Ross Barkley made the most of Doucoure’s departure to start linking play well from midfield.
Luton picked up just six points from their first 12 games as they took time to adjust to life in the top flight, but now have nine as they built on the excellent home showing against Liverpool by beating Palace.
Tough tests lie ahead for Edwards’ side – against Arsenal, Manchester City and Brentford – in their next three matches but they will go into the first of those outside the relegation zone.
source – BBC
