Report | Swansea City 0 Luton Town 2

20th August
First team
Joe Allen v Luton

Swansea City fell to defeat as goals from Allan Campbell and Carlton Morris gave Luton Town victory at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Campbell volleyed in the opener for the Hatters when the ball fell to him on the edge of the area, with substitute Morris adding the second after the break with a fine finish.

The Swans had a sustained period of pressure as they sought a way back into the game during the second half but, aside from a couple of opportunities for Joel Piroe, they struggled to create clear chances and seriously trouble Ethan Horvath in the Luton goal.

The hosts had shown two changes with Ben Cabango and Matty Sorinola coming in for Kyle Naughton and injury victim Joel Latibeaudiere respectively.

The home side had led inside a minute against Millwall in midweek, and they should have had another early goal in just the fourth minute here.

Cabango found Piroe and an exchange of passes involving Michael Obafemi and Ryan Manning ended with the Dutchman in on goal, but he snatched at his final effort and it was blocked.

Ntcham v Luton

But the visitors took the lead in the 14th minute when a half-cleared corner fell to Campbell on the edge of his area and his low drive through a number of bodies flew into the net off Andy Fisher.

Dan Potts very nearly doubled Luton’s lead six minutes later, taking advantage some clever shielding to power a low header toward the bottom corner, where Fisher made an excellent save to tip the ball away for a corner.

Admiral Muskwe also saw a shot saved by Fisher after Nathan Wood had been dispossessed by the former Wycombe man.

The Swans were unable to find the fluency that had marked out much of their performance in midweek. However, Wood lifted the crowd with a fine surge down the right and a cross that was just cut out before it could reach Piroe.

Manning then showed lovely control to bring down a Piroe pass and surge towards goal, where his final pass was well blocked.

Joe Allen then had a shot deflected over the bar as the Swans began to pick up a head of steam in the minutes before the break.

However, they remained behind at the interval, and Martin opted to send on Naughton in place of Wood resulting in a tactical reshuffle as the Swans switched to a back four.

There was more purpose in Swansea strides early in the second period, Allen putting too much on a cross after being worked in down the left side of the area.

Joel Piroe v Luton

Olivier Ntcham then picked out Allen with a clever cutback, but his show was blocked behind for a corner before Sorinola only found Horvath’s gloves from a promising position on the right.

Piroe and Obafemi got in each other’s way attempting to reach another Ntcham cross, before Manning dragged the follow up across goal.

With the game being largely played in Luton’s final third, the visitors made a triple change to bring on fresh legs.

Potts made a magnificent covering tackle as Obafemi threatened to get on to a Naughton pass threaded in behind him.

Cameron Congreve was soon brought on for the Swans and the youngster tried his luck with a strike from the edge of the area that Horvath gratefully reeled in.

But instead the visitors put the game to bed when substitute Morris was played in after excellent play by fellow sub Cameron Jerome, with the former Barnsley man beating Cabango to smash a left-footed strike into the far corner.

Piroe nearly pulled one back a few moments later, but his final header lacked power and conviction and was saved by Horvath.

Swansea City: Andy Fisher; Nathan Wood (Kyle Naughton 46), Ben Cabango, Harry Darling; Matty Sorinola (Cameron Congreve 67), Joe Allen (Ollie Cooper 75), Matt Grimes (captain), Ryan Manning; Olivier Ntcham, Joel Piroe, Michael Obafemi.

Unused Substitutes: Steven Benda, Jay Fulton, Liam Cullen, Josh Thomas..

Luton Town: Ethan Horvath, James Bree, Dan Potts (captain), Tom Lockyer, Elijah Adebayo (Carlton Morris 60), Admiral Muskwe (Cameron Jerome 60), Reece Burke, Jordan Clark, Allan Campbell, Amari'i Bell, Luke Freeman (Gabe Osho 60).

Unused Substitutes: Matt Macey, Luke Berry, Cauley Woodrow, Elliot Thorpe.

Referee: John Busby

Attendance: 16,323