Captain Kal Naismith’s first-half header gave the Town all three points at Kenilworth Road.
In the early stages the pacey Shayden Morris found himself in space down the right-hand side early on, his lofted effort into the area was well cleared by the visitors.
It was Morris again down the right-hand side of the Luton attack minutes later, the Doncaster defensive struggled to contain him and he used his pace to skip past multiple Rovers defenders, his eventual cross into the area was blocked by ex-Hatter Matty Pearson, with a large portion of the home fans screaming out for handball, but the appeals were immediately waved away by referee Tim Robinson.
Zack Nelson picked up the ball in midfield and shifted it out wide, this time on the left to Nahki Wells, whose delivery was met at the backpost by Lamine Fanne, but the midfielder was denied his first Hatters goal by the palm of Ian Lawlor in the Rovers’ goal.
Just moments later, a quick free-kick from Milli Alli caught the Rovers off guard, allowing him to slip in Fanne, who shifted the ball onto his left foot, but again was denied by Lawlor.
The Town had their third corner of the match, just 15 minutes in. A peach of a ball over the top from Christ Makosso picked out Wells, who was denied by an excellent piece of defending from Jamie Sterry.
With 10 minutes to play in the first half, Alli fired a hopeful shot from far out over the crossbar and into the Kenilworth Road end.
However, with a little over five minutes to play before half-time the Hatters took the lead. The electric Morris was fouled in a dangerous position on the right side, winning his side a free-kick. Saville’s pinpoint delivery was headed past Lawlor by Naismith for his first Luton goal since returning last term.
Just before the break the Town were awarded a penalty after Wells was taken out by a reckless challenge by Sterry. Wells then stepped up to take the spot kick, but he was denied by an exceptional save by Lawlor, high into the top right corner.
There was a huge let off for the Town with 20 minutes to play. A rapid counter attack concluded with a ball into the area from Jordan Gibson into Toyosi Olusanya, whose heavy touch denied him an almost certain equaliser.
Matt Bloomfield made a triple change with Fanne, Wells and Alli leaving the field, replaced by Cohen Bramall, Joe Gbodé and Marvelous Nakamba – with the latter being a popular introduction amongst the Hatters fans.
Gbodé did well to draw a foul deep into stoppage time, a great effort, which summed up the Hatters’ fighting spirit on the afternoon which ended with three important points.
Next stop we head to Blackpool on Tuesday night.
We’ll see you then.
Town: Keeley, Makosso, Mengi, Andersen, Naismith, Fanne (sub Nakamba 74), Saville, Morris (sub Kouda 56), Nelson (sub Richards 90), Alli (sub Bramall 75), Wells (sub Gbodé74).
Unused subs: Shea, Nordås.
Attendance: 10,957, including 1,072 supporting Doncaster
Report by Owen Williams
