Report | Swansea City 0 Luton Town 1
Swansea City suffered defeat at the Swansea.com Stadium as Harry Cornick’s strike gave Luton Town all three points.
Russell Martin’s side had chances to take something from the game, with Ben Cabango hitting the post and Michael Obafemi and Joel Piroe being denied from close range.
But the visitors, who had seen Danny Hylton and Allan Campbell waste good first-half chances, struck the decisive blow when Cornick swept a right-footed shot into the far corner with 18 minutes to play.
There had been five changes from the weekend loss at Hull, with Andy Fisher handed a debut in goal, while Ryan Bennett, Flynn Downes, Olivier Ntcham and Obafemi also started as Ben Hamer, Joel Latibeaudiere, Jay Fulton, Korey Smith and Piroe dropped to the bench.
The visitors threatened early, James Bree curling a free-kick agonisingly wide of the far post as it evaded the waiting crowd in the area.
And they went close again when Fred Onyedinma steered the ball wide of goal after bright work by Henri Lansbury down the left flank.
The Swans responded with a swift move driven by Downes that ended with Ntcham having a goalbound shot blocked, before Hannes Wolf’s pull-back was cleared for a corner.
And the hosts should have led in the 14th minute when a beautiful slide rule pass from Grimes picked out the run of Obafemi, but the striker’s close-range shot was blocked by Hatters keeper James Shea.
Wolf then got free after an excellent pass from Kyle Naughton opened the pitch up with Grimes and Obafemi pouring through.
But the Swans momentum was broken when Naughton was forced off with what looked like a foot injury after slipping when playing an angled ball for Obafemi.
Smith replaced the defender as the Swans shuffled their pack and the hosts were soon back on the front foot with Obafemi and Wolf nearly capitalising on hesitation between keeper Shea and his defenders.
At the other end Hylton forced Fisher to parry his cross after he had gotten away from Bennett on the right-hand side of the area.
Hylton then wasted a glorious chance when Bree’s excellent delivery gave him a free header eight yards out, but he glanced the ball over the angle of post and bar before Campbell spurned an aerial chance of his own by heading over as the half ended goalless.
The Swans got back on the front foot early in the second half, Ryan Manning seeing a fierce low cross blocked away after a sharp switch of play from Christie.
They went so close to an opener when Wolf hung up a lovely cross to the far post, with Cabango seeing his header come back off the post, with Bennett unable to turn home the rebound.
Obafemi then fired straight at Shea after fine play from Wolf and Christie, with the Austrian then laying off for Manning to fire over the bar.
Wolf was looking lively and he beat his man to deliver a low ball from the byline, which saw Obafemi have a shot blocked on the edge of the six-yard box.
Wolf then curled narrowly wide as he drove into the area from the left flank as the Swans upped the ante heading into the final 20 minutes.
But instead of finding the breakthrough, the hosts were caught with a sucker punch as substitute Cornick arrived to sweep home from fellow substitute Cameron Jerome’s pass with 18 minutes remaining.
Piroe was summoned from the bench and Wolf continued to probe away at the visiting defence as Martin’s men sought a response.
The Dutchman headed straight at Shea from an excellent Manning cross, but that would be as close as the Swans got to a leveller during the closing stages.
Swansea City: Andy Fisher; Ryan Bennett (Kyle Joseph 89), Kyle Naughton (Korey Smith 22), Ben Cabango; Cyrus Christie, Flynn Downes (Joel Piroe 74), Matt Grimes (captain), Ryan Manning; Olivier Ntcham, Hannes Wolf; Michael Obafemi.
Unused Substitutes: Ben Hamer, Jay Fulton, Joel Latibeaudiere, Finley Burns.
Luton Town: James Shea; Reece Burke, Gabe Osho, Kal Naismith (captain); James Bree, Allan Campbell, Henri Lansbury (Luke Berry 81), Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Amari’I Bell; Fred Onyedinma (Harry Cornick 63), Danny Hylton (Cameron Jerome 63).
Unused Substitutes: Jed Steer, Dan Potts, Carlos Mendes-Gomes, Tom Lockyer.
Referee: Oliver Langford
Attendance: 16,598