A last-minute goal from Elijah Adebayo earned the Town a dramatic but deserved victory over Stoke to maintain their good form at Kenilworth Road.

Trailing to Tom Cannon’s early goal the Hatters fought back to claim their fifth win in nine home games with Carlton Morris’ header levelling midway through the first half.

Both sides had chances in the second half but the Town finished the stronger and, as time ticked into the 90th minute, Adebayo reacted first to Tom Krauß’s blocked shot to guide home his fifth goal in his last nine starts to spark scenes of celebration and lift the Hatters further up the Championship table.

Cannon’s opener came in the sixth minute, finishing well after speeding clear of the Town defence and beating an exposed Thomas Kaminski.

But as the game settled, so did the Hatters as they grew into the game. Their first big chance arrived in the 13th minute when former Stoke man Jacob Brown – in from the start – slipped Adebayo in behind the Potters defence but his low shot was charged down visiting keeper Viktor Johansson.

However, the Town continued to press and their efforts were rewarded in the 24th minute when Jordan Clark’s superb right-wing corner was met by the head of Morris, and his glancing header flew beyond Johannson for his fifth goal of the season.

Level the Hatters then came mighty close to taking the lead on the half-hour in a goalmouth scramble that somehow saw Stoke survive. Clark’s corner caused the chaos with a Morris header saved and an Adebayo shot cleared off the line by Ben Wilmot.

The Town started the second half how they ended the first, on the front foot, with Clark’s corners continuing to cause panic in the Stoke penalty area.

The Potters rode that storm and enjoyed a decent spell. Kaminski came to the Town’s rescue on 56 minutes with a flying save to turn away Lewis Koumas’ stinging effort and the same visiting player then spurned a good chance when well-placed moments later.

But, as the game entered the final 15 minutes, the Town found a second wind. Clark shot wide from distance before Morris side-footed a great chance wide of the post from close range after being found by Krauß’s cut-back.

Then, with eight minutes left, another clearance off the line denied the Hatters when Adebayo’s shot following a right-wing corner was hacked to safety by Cannon.

With time ticking the Hatters continued to push for a winner and in the final minute it came. A left-wing free-kick was half-cleared by Stoke to the feet of Krauß on the edge of the box. His shot was deflected into the path of Adebayo and he reacted quickest to sweep a first-time finish into the top corner.

After the celebrations there was no time for a Stoke reply and the Town held on to win to make it one defeat in nine home games at the Kenny.

As Rob Edwards said afterwards it’s the away form that needs to change – and it’s to Blackburn where we head next on Saturday.

We’ll see you there.

UTT.

Town: Kaminski, Moses, Chong, McGuinness, Hashioka, Holmes, Krauß, Clark, Brown, Adebayo, Morris.

Subs not used: Shea, Krul, Andersen, Woodrow, Nakamba, Mpanzu, Taylor, Nelson, Johnson.

Attendance: 10,537, including 1,157 in the away end.