Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Luton Town and Coventry at Kenilworth Road as two goals from Elijah Adebayo, two from Harry Cornick and one from Luke Berry sealed a thumping win for the Hatters
Wednesday 29 September 2021 23:20, UK
Luton ended a six-game winless run in convincing fashion with a thumping 5-0 Sky Bet Championship victory over high-flying Coventry at Kenilworth Road.
The hosts took the lead after two minutes when striker Elijah Adebayo was tripped just inside the area by visiting defender Jake Clarke-Salter.
The forward dusted himself down to power the spot-kick past Simon Moore for his fourth goal of the season and second penalty in as many home games.
A long Harry Cornick throw was flicked on for Luke Berry to arrive and nod narrowly wide of the target, before Town scored a second in the 18th minute.
A short free-kick was played to Jordan Clark and he dinked the ball back into the area where Kal Naismith rose highest to head across for Cornick, who nodded past the exposed Moore.
The game was then stopped as a Coventry fan was carried away from the stands for medical treatment. When the action resumed, the Hatters made it 3-0 on the half-hour mark.
Cornick did superbly to outmuscle two defenders and reach Tom Lockyer's pass before picking out the run of Berry, who tucked home from close range.
Clark was inches away from a fourth, his header dropping just wide as Coventry finally began to make a fist of it. Martyn Waghorn's backheel was blocked by the home defence and then Dominic Hyam hit the side netting.
However, Luton came on strongly again in eight minutes of stoppage time, scoring in the final 60 seconds, as Lockyer sent James Bree down the right and his cross was flicked on by Cornick for Adebayo to bury his second.
After the break, City looked to try and gain some respectability to the scoreline, as Viktor Gyokeres cut in to test Simon Sluga low down, but they were soon picking the ball out of the net again with 58 minutes gone.
A free-kick out from the back went completely wrong as Berry intercepted to find Cornick, who doubled his tally for the evening via a slight deflection.
Bree looked to get his own name on the scoresheet, flashing narrowly wide of the far post on another foray forward, while Adebayo looked to complete his hat-trick from distance, rifling an effort that forced Moore to cling on gratefully.
Berry had calls for another penalty turned down when he felt his 18-yard drive was handballed, before he combined with Naismith to find substitute Carlos Mendes Gomes, who was denied by the legs of the advancing Moore.
Clark tried his luck from 20 yards, Moore easily gathering, before Cameron Jerome almost opened his league account for the Hatters in the closing stages, nodding off target from Naismith's inviting delivery.
Luton's Nathan Jones: "We asked them to score the first goal, keep a clean sheet and win and I'd have taken any two of those. It was a complete performance, it's my best performance as Luton manager by a mile as I know we scored eights and sevens and five away from home at certain places, but this is in the Championship against a very good side, a side who is third and they could have gone top tonight.
"So that's the magnitude of the performance as from start to finish I thought we were outstanding. It should have been more, we had shots on targets, balls flashing across the box, the control we had in the game. They had one chance first half which hit the side-netting and this is a side that scores goals, a side that's third in the league, a side that has run over teams, and they are a good side. Mark has done a great job here, but that shows the magnitude of the performance."
Coventry's Mark Robins: "We have to deal with things better. We ended up getting ragged and we ended up chasing the game early on, we were four down before we could breathe. We didn't create enough and didn't get near their goal. Luton were very good at what they did and we weren't very good at dealing with it. It was a disappointment and we have to dust ourselves down and learn from it and not let that happen again.
"Our away form hasn't been brilliant and that's something we'll have to look at. At home, it's been a different story so hopefully we can park this and move on quickly against Fulham on Saturday as they are one of the best teams in the division."
