Luton 1 Argyle 2: Match report

Never. Say. Die.

A goal in the last minute of added time from Ryan Brunt gave Argyle a hard-earned victory at Kenilworth Road and put then four points clear at the top of Sky Bet League 2.

The Pilgrims took the lead midway through a first half which they dominated when midfielder Carl McHugh nodded home Craig Tanner’s cross.

They were almost left to regret not converting their early superiority into further goals when Luton rallied after the interval to make more of a match of things, and levelled with 14 minutes to play through substitute Josh McQuoid.

However, Brunt epitomised the team spirit and belief at Home Park right now by bludgeoning home Craig Tanner’s cross right at the death.

Argyle manager Derek Adams had made two personnel changes to the starting 11 that lost for only the third time this season four days previously at Oxford United.

He named Jake Jervis as a substitute for the first time, preferring Brunt in the role of pivotal forward. With Reuben Reid injured, the Pilgrims therefore went into the game without their two leading scorers in the campaign so far.

Tanner was also whistled up from the bench, swapping places with Josh Simpson, as Adams tweaked Argyle’s shape to a 4-2-3-1 from the 4-1-4-1 employed at the Kassam, with Tanner and Gregg Wylde on the flanks and playmaker Graham Carey back in the hole.

Luton went like for like, with former West Ham midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu given a first start of the season following injury. Another ex Hammer, Olly Lee, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Home Park, was on the Hatters’ bench.

Argyle certainly seemed to be set up to work the ball wide and get it into the box, and the early stages indicated this would indeed be part of the afternoon’s plans. One raid down the Luton left saw Tanner find Wylde for a header that the Scotsman sent just wide.

Tanner had found his range, though, and, as Argyle effortlessly cranked up through the gears, provided the ball from which McHugh claimed his first league goal of the season. The Reading loanee delivered a sumptuous little chip into the space ahead of McHugh, to where the Irishman galloped to deliver a deft header that carried the ball out of the reach of flat-footed goalkeeper Mark Tyler.

The goal was greeted by an eerie silence – apart, of course, from behind the goal where McHugh had scored and where he and his team-mates were celebrating with the Green Army. Mind you, that was better than the shellacking they received from some home fans mad at the way the Hatters were being outperformed.

They had cause to be worried. With Hiram Boateng a major presence in a dominant midfield, their team was often starved of possession and frequently back-pedalling. Carey sent in a couple of shots that Tyler did well to parry, with Brunt close to capitalising on the second of the spillages.

On the rare occasions when Luton did exert some pressure on the Pilgrims, the defence showed necessary steel to complement the silkiness of their attacking play, most notably Peter Hartley’s body-on-the-line block of Mpanzu’s full-bloodied drive.

Mainly, though, the tide was a lilac one and, in time added on at the end of a most satisfying 45minutes, Carey went close to extending the Pilgrims’ advantage when he extended Tyler with another cracking shot after cutting in off the right flank.