Town were knocked out of the FA Youth Cup by the Owls
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 4
LONCHAR 40, 67, 88
PRESTON 44
LUTON TOWN 0
A Jordan Lonchar hat-trick was more than enough to see off the Hatters Under-18s as Sheffield Wednesday progressed into the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup at Paul Driver’s lads’ expense at Hillsborough this afternoon.
Lonchar gave the hosts the lead with a close-range finish five minutes before half-time, and Fraser Preston finished off a fantastic set-piece to make it 2-0 four minutes later.
Lonchar made it 3-0 with a header into the bottom left corner midway through the second half, then made it four late on with a smart finish from inside the box.
The Owls got off to a good start, keeping the ball in the Town’s half for the first ten minutes of the match, but were unable to breakdown a tough tackling centre-back pairing of Ciaren Jones and Joe Mead, with the former clearing away a dangerous cross early on.
Lonchar then tried to get the opening goal with an effort from 30 yards, but he dragged his shot well wide.
Driver’s side grew into the game from that point and looked dangerous with balls being played over the top for Freddie Hinds, but the striker’s first real chance came when he intercepted a poor back pass. He
picked up the ball on the left of the Wednesday box and looked to play in Murray, but Jack Lee did well to get a tackle in and clear the ball away.
Lonchar proved to be a real thorn in the Hatters’ side in the first half and he should have done better when the ball was clipped over for him to run onto. Tiernan Parker raced off his line to get the ball, Lonchar – unaware of Parker’s actions – tried to control it with his knee, knocking the ball out of play, but if he had shot, the keeper would have been caught out.
With 40 minutes gone, the hosts took the lead as Brennan powered down the left, got an excellent ball into the Town box, which Lonchar met from five yards out, smashing past Parker to make it 1-0
They doubled their lead four minutes later with a fantastic free-kick. Mead was shown a yellow card for handling the ball 22 yards from his own goal, Price played the ball into the box, it was flicked on and Preston had an easy tap in from five yards to make it 2-0 to the Owls.
The Hatters came out fighting in the second half and very nearly halved the deficit within the first minute of the restart, as Arthur Read picked out Jack Snelus, but the midfielder’s effort was well saved by Dan Wallis in between the sticks for the Owls.
With 67 minutes gone, Lonchar made it three for the hosts, as he powered home a header after another fantastic cross from Brennan.
Harry Bean received his marching orders with 20 minute to go as he picked up two yellow cards in the space of a minute. The first for a late challenge and the second a handball as he tried to block a cross into his own box.
The introduction of Connor Tomlinson and Michael Shamalo caused the hosts problems as the pace of the former and the strength of the latter gave Town options going forward.
With the Hatters pushing for a way back into the game, Lonchar added to his tally to complete his hat-trick and seal the win as he drifted past Jones and fired beyond Parker.
Snelus had the chance to score a consolation for his side after he was tripped by substitute Layton Swain in the penalty area, but his effort from the spot was saved well by Wallis who guessed correctly and dived to his right.
TOWN: Parker, Bean, Jones, Mead (Shamalo 79), James (Belgrove 68), Bakinson, Cotter, Murray (Tomlinson 79), Snelus, Read, Hinds
Yellows: Mead, Read
Red: Bean
Subs not used: Panter, Sorunke.
WEDNESDAY: Wallis, Hughes (Reaney 82), West, Kirby (Swain 90), Lee, Cook, Lonchar, Price (Hunt 76), Waldock, Brennan, Preston
Subs not used: Walker, Shaw