Crow coup de grace wins it at the death

A LAST-GASP winner from substitute Danny Crow gave battling Luton a hard-fought 1-0 win at rain soaked Newport County AFC this afternoon, writes Mark Wood.

It had looked like it would be another frustrating afternoon for the Hatters after Alex Lawless and Stuart Fleetwood had missed gilt-edged chances.

But dogged defending kept the Exiles at bay and Crow applied the coup de grace at the death.

Town named an unchanged team from the side that drew 1-1 at Cambridge United last Saturday for the first time since August for the trip to Spytty Park, while the Exiles made two changes from their 2-2 at Grimsby last time out, with Danny Rose returning from suspension and Sam Foley getting the nod up front.

The Hatters struggled in the early exchanges as they came to terms with the sodden pitch and blustery conditions as a number of passes went astray.

Elliott Buchanan rained in a fourth minute effort that was well fielded by Kevin Pilkington who kept his place ahead of traditional number one Mark Tyler.

A Jake Howells corner was stabbed goalwards by Greg Taylor and, as Jamie Hand whipped the ball back in, Fleetwood could only head tamely back across goal into Danny Potter’s clutches.

Foley showed nice feet on 16 minutes but his long ranger dipped just over as the home side continued to cope better with the tricky conditions.

With Luton on the backfoot they were being forced into too many pointless channel balls and the home side went close to breaking the deadlock midway through. Foley’s initial effort cannoned off George Pilkington and Taylor produced a fine block to deny Buchanan.

At the other end Fleetwood and Curtis Osano combined well with the latter’s vicious cross taking a deflection and Potter got a good glove on it with Howells unable to connect at the far post.

The Hatters were struggling to get any form of a grip on the game and an Osano error let Foley in on 36 minutes who outpaced Janos Kovacs, but could only stroke tamely at the keeper.

Tom Doherty drove well wide as a dull first half crawled on, only for Luton to waste a gilt-edged chance to take the lead four minutes before the break. Great work by Fleetwood saw him slip through the onrushing Lawless but Potter saved one-on-one well with his legs.

Moments later Newport whipped in a tantalising cross and Osano did brilliantly to stop Ismail Yakubu getting a telling touch with George Pilkington helping to clear the danger.

More last-ditch defending from the Hatters helped to keep Newport out before the break as the wind died for the second half and the rain came.

Misplaced passes continued to hamper the Hatters but they wasted another glorious chance on 56 minutes when Newport’s defence allowed a pass to slip through and Fleetwood evaded a challenge before trying to lift the ball over the grounded Potter, who threw up an arm to pull off a brilliant one-handed stop.

Howells curled a 63rd-minute free-kick straight at Potter as Luton began to take control.

However, Newport almost hit them on the break when Foley was played through and the outstanding Kovacs produced a brilliant last-gasp challenge as the Newport man prepared to pull the trigger.

Having already thrown Stoke loan man Ryan Brunt on the Hatters went even more attacking as Taylor made way for winger Robbie Willmott with Howells moving to left-back.

Foley brought a fine full-stretch save out of Kevin Pilkington on 72 minutes, while Fleetwood picked up a knock and was replaced by Crow.

Lawless was the first man in the book on 82 minutes as both teams continued to look for a winner.

Another superb intervention by Kovacs kept the Exiles out late on before Town snatched victory in the third minute of stoppage time.

Dance created it with a forceful run on the right and his cross was turned on by Brunt for substitute Crow to fire home a last-gasp winner.

Exiles: Danny Potter, Paul Rodgers, Ismail Yakubu (C), Wayne Hatswell, Andrew Hughes, David Pipe, Tom Doherty, Danny Rose, Elliott Buchanan (Craig McAllister 73), Sam Foley, Robbie Matthews. Substitutes not used: Gary Warren, Scott Rogers, Darryl Knights, Glyn Thompson.

Hatters: Kevin Pilkington, Curtis Osano, George Pilkington (C), Janos Kovacs, Greg Taylor (Robbie Willmott 71), James Dance, Alex Lawless, Jamie Hand, Jake Howells, Aaron O’Connor (Ryan Brunt 59), Stuart Fleetwood (Danny Crow 77). Substitutes not used: Mark Tyler, Keith Keane.

Bookings: Lawless 82.

Referee: Tim Robinson (Bognor Regis).

Assistant Referees: Peter Lavelle (Southampton) and Steve Finch (Southampton).

Fourth Official: Daniel Jacecko (Swindon).

Attendance: 1,511.

Star Hatter: Janos Kovacs. Immense showing from Town man mountain at the back.