Luton Town vs Wigan Athletic. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth RoadAttendance9,885.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Luton Town and Wigan at Kenilworth Road as the Latics came back from a goal down to beat the Hatters on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday 3 September 2022 19:30, UK
A late goal from substitute Thelo Aasgaard saw Wigan stun Luton with a 2-1 victory at Kenilworth Road.
The Hatters had looked good value for the victory when Carlton Morris opened the scoring in the first half, but the Latics hit back to level through Tom Lockyer's own goal in the 80th minute, before Aasgaard curled home from 20 yards with just two minutes remaining to win it.
Luton will be wondering quite how they lost, going close early on when Morris's backheel sent Elijah Adebayo through, but keeper Ben Amos was off his line quickly to get a crucial block.
Luke Freeman's ambitious effort at scoring from 25 yards was wastefully wide, as was James Bree's when he tried his luck from even further out.
Just after the half hour, Town finally breathed some life into a turgid encounter, Freeman motoring forward and unleashing a wicked attempt from 22 yards, which was brilliantly tipped over by Amos.
Freeman then swung in the corner as Lockyer's downward header was kicked away, Morris also going close, when his curler was deflected behind.
The Hatters were rewarded on 39 minutes when a clever corner routine saw the ball played back to Bree and his lofted cross into the area was met by Morris, who rose above his markers to guide a header past Amos for his third goal in four matches.
Allan Campbell's jinking solo run almost saw Town lead 2-0 moments later, as he beat three players, but then saw Ryan Nyambe just about clear his cross away from the line.
In the second period, Campbell almost broke through again, found by Morris's pass, he could not get the better of Jack Whatmough.
The resulting corner saw keeper Amos get his punch totally wrong, with Gabe Osho almost getting his second goal in as many games, curling narrowly wide of the target.
A triple sub upped Wigan's efforts to get back into the game, as Callum Lang sent his diving header off target at the back post with 70 minutes gone.
Cameron Jerome had appeals for a penalty turned down as the visitors then went up the other end and levelled when Amari'i Bell's clearance was kept in play and Lang's low shot cannoned off Lockyer and beat Ethan Horvath.
Graeme Shinnie was denied a penalty after being felled by Bell, but with two minutes left, the Latics triumphed.
Luton were guilty of leaving too many forward in search of a winner and Aasgaard curled beyond Horvath and into the net.
Late on, Town thought they had equalised as Bree's free-kick was turned in by Luke Berry, but the offside flag was raised, leaving the hosts still searching for a first home victory.
Luton's Nathan Jones: "We weren't at our best today in terms of energy levels, but I thought we did enough to win the game comfortably. First half I thought we were excellent, right on top, had enough situations, enough opportunities, enough set-plays to have been further ahead, but we weren't and then I just didn't see that coming.
"They didn't really get anywhere near our goal, really didn't have a shot on target in the whole game. Then suddenly we mess about, give them the ball back in our own corner flag, they go through and without even getting a shot on target, they're 1-1. We made changes to be athletic, to go and try and win the game and we got caught on the counter attack."
Wigan's Leam Richardson: "You've always got to have belief, we had enough goals on the pitch to make something happen. I thought the momentum was quite strong in our favour, we do finish games strongly, but with the week that we've had with Burnley, West Brom and coming away to Luton, they're really healthy challenges.
"You'll always be respectful of the opposition and Luton have done very well. I've got to compliment the players, when you come to Luton at Kenilworth Road, you know what to expect. You've got to match the fight, got to match the output, the intensity, the crowd, because they ask a lot of questions of you."
