MATCH PREVIEW | LUTON TOWN V DERBY COUNTY

28 January 2020

The Hatters face Derby County in the Sky Bet Championship this evening as Graeme Jones’ side aim to win their first match of the calendar year.

After suffering a 3-1 away loss to Nottingham Forest in their last match, Town will be hoping to build on a positive first half performance at the City Ground, having taken the lead on the day through Harry Cornick.

Opponents Derby are unbeaten in five league matches coming into the fixture, but the Hatters know they could climb to within five points of safety with victory.

Graeme Jones said:

On the importance of picking up results: "My next port of call is to get a positive result. When we get a positive result and we get everybody fit, everybody on that pitch, momentum can take you anywhere. I am sorry for being a bit boring, but I have to look at the next fixture and I have to try and get a positive result first.

“I think we got a positive performance against Forest, certainly for the first half. Harry Cornick going off hurt us a little bit and that’s no disrespect to anyone who came on the pitch that day, I just think Harry is unique in how he plays.

"So the performance was there - we need to continue that level of performance, we need to get a positive result, we need everybody tonight. It’s a big night, we need to take something from the game, a positive result and then we’ll see where that takes us.”

On Curtis Davies returning to Kenilworth Road: “Curtis, I had the privilege of meeting him in November. Him and Darren Moore are close. So I sort of knew about Curtis from a distance for a while and Darren doesn't get involved with anyone who aren’t good characters. You can see that on the pitch really, the age he's at, he still gives a really, really good level.”

On Wayne Rooney coming to Kenilworth Road: “They're on a good run lately, they’ve got some real quality individuals in their team, Tom Huddlestone for one and Wayne Rooney who - we’re talking about England’s record goalscorer here, and he can still play, I can assure you. He gets between lines, gets on the half turn, he’s still got that vision and awareness and that competitive edge. He’s just been a phenomenal footballer.

“I’ve been privileged to have gone up against him, and as an England fan myself, maybe not when I was working for Belgium, the pride in what he did for his country, to break Bobby Charlton’s record was staggering, you’re talking about history.

“Wigan played at Old Trafford in 2009, and he ran amok, and this was Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, where if it was 3-0 or 4-0, they would try to make it 6-0 or 7-0, they didn't stop. He was phenomenal with his pace and his power, his work-rate and then his quality on top, just one of our country’s all-time greats.”

Who?

Relegated from the Premier League in 2008, Derby have reached the play-off final twice since but failed to reach the top-flight on both occasions. Manager Phillip Cocu took over in the summer, succeeding Frank Lampard - who led the Rams to a sixth place finish last season.

When and where?

Kick-off is 7:45pm at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday 28^th January.

Man in the middle?

In 22 games so far this season, Andy Davies has shown 76 yellow cards and two red cards.

Ticket information

Tickets for this fixture are still available from the Town Ticket Office.

Played before?

Luton and Derby have played each other 42 times in all competitions, our last meeting coming earlier on this campaign in a 2-0 defeat at Pride Park.

Derby narrowly hold the upper hand with 17 wins, while Luton have 15 wins and the two sides have drawn 10 times.

Follow the action

The main blow-by-blow action account of the action from Kenilworth Road will be provided via the Match Centre on the club website, which you can access by clicking here.

The main moments from the game will appear on the Hatters’ social media feeds:

Twitter – @LutonTown

Facebook – www.facebook.com/LutonTown/

Instagram – www.instagram.com/ltfc_official/

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REPORT | LUTON TOWN 3 DERBY COUNTY 2

Hatters end eight-game winless run with thrilling victory over Rams

28 January 2020

The Hatters came from behind to secure a memorable 3-2 victory over Derby County at Kenilworth Road this evening - ending a run of eight Sky Bet Championship matches without a win.

Wayne Rooney had put the Rams ahead in the 63^rd minute but Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu levelled proceedings four minutes later on the sixth anniversary of him signing permanently for the club.

Substitute Donervon Daniels scored his first goal for the Hatters in the 73^rd minute but Chris Martin pegged Town back once again with five minutes to play.

The drama continued as the Hatters regained the lead 60 seconds later with Harry Cornick's shot going in off Jayden Bogle.

Max Lowe was sent off by referee Andy Davies in the dying embers and the Hatters stayed strong to record a first victory since December.

Manager Graeme Jones named an unchanged team from the side that lost 3-1 at Nottingham Forest but did welcome back Callum McManaman and Izzy Brown to the bench - the latter for the first time since the defeat at Brentford in November.

The Hatters started quickly and Cornick could have scored the game’s first goal after just six minutes.

Simon Sluga cleared the ball long upfield and Matt Clarke was unaware of Cornick’s presence behind him as the forward latched onto the keeper’s clearance and tried to chip the ball over Ben Hamer, but failed to beat the former Leicester City goalie who stood tall.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate for most of the first half but Cornick did test Hamer again on his left foot, though the goalkeeper was equal to it and saved comfortably.

Derby had plenty of the ball in the second period and went close early on. Hamer produced a clearance up-field towards Jason Knight, who found Tom Lawrence in the middle but his left-footed effort went just over the bar.

Minutes later Lawrence went even closer as he got on the end of Bogle’s cross, hit the ball into the ground and watched it bounce up and off the bar.

The Rams’ pressure paid off in the 63^rd minute as Rooney opened his account in Derby colours. He was picked out on the edge of the box and his strike took a deflection off Daniels on its way into the top corner.

Town almost immediately found an equaliser as Cornick was denied at close range by Hamer. The former Bournemouth man was causing problems and again found his way through on goal, this time a perfectly timed block stopped his effort on goal.

But from Bree’s resulting corner, the ball fell to Mpanzu on the edge of the box and he smashed it low into the far corner to send the home crowd into a frenzy.

After replacing Matty Pearson on the hour mark due to injury, Daniels made his mark on the game by scoring a thumping header from Bree’s corner in the 73^rd minute to put the Hatters in the lead.

Derby, however, fought back and levelled the game once more through Martin, who powerfully directed Bogle’s cross beyond Sluga with five minutes of normal time left.

Town mounted a charge up-field straight from kick-off and put themselves back ahead a minute later. Harry Cornick’s shot from the right was blocked on the line and bounced off Bogle and into the back of the net.

The madness continued shortly after as Lowe played the ball back to Hamer, who proceeded to pick the ball up and referee Andy Davies awarded a free-kick inside the box, which Derby were furious with.

Rooney and Hamer were booked in the process, but worse still for Derby, Lowe was shown a straight red card for putting his hands on the referee's arm as he held the yellow card aloft.

The Hatters remained calm, with Glen Rea magnificent marshalling the midfield throughout, to earn a valuable three points to move within six points of safety as they travel to high-flying West Brom on Saturday.

TOWN: Sluga, Bree, Pearson (Daniels 60), Bradley (C), Potts, Rea, Mpanzu, Tunnicliffe, Cornick (Berry 90), LuaLua (Brown 68), Collins. Subs not used: Shea, McManaman, Shinnie, Moncur.

Goals: Mpanzu (67), Daniels (73), Bogle o.g (86)

Yellows: Mpanzu

DERBY: Hamer, Bogle, Wisdom, Clarke, Lowe, Holmes (Marriott 79) Bird, Knight (Martin 79), Rooney (C), Lawrence, Waghorn. Subs not used: Roos, Forsyth, Shinnie, Davies, Whittaker.

Goals: Rooney (63), Martin (85)

Yellows: Bogle, Rooney, Hamer, Wisdom

Red: Lowe

Attendance: 10,057 (1,033 away fans)

Referee: Andy Davies