Gray gives Luton Wings in hard-fought victory

Predatory Hatters striker Andre Gray netted twice as Town ground out a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Welling United at Kenilworth Road this afternoon, write Mark Wood.

Having recently knocked Luton out of the FA Cup, the Wings again impressed in a game punctuated throughout by some questionable refereeing by Brett Huxtable who awarded the visitors a dubious penalty which led to their equaliser midway through the second half before unnecessarily sending Fraser Franks off at the death.

Gray’s goals took him to nine for the season as he moved clear as Town’s top scorer for the campaign.

A bumper crowd of over 6,500 watched Town’s first home game in almost a month and a half and they battled hard to claim victory as they stretched their unbeaten league run to 12 games to remain seven points behind leader Cambridge United who beat Woking 2-0 at home.

Town made two changes from the team that drew 1-1 at Chester the week before. Shaun Whalley and Jim Stevenson were handed starts in place of the suspended Jonathan Smith and Luke Guttridge, who dropped to the bench.

In a boring start it took nine minutes for either side to create anything, Ross Lafayette drilling over the bar for Welling.

Alex Dyer threatened four minutes later but his shot from the edge of the area was blocked by Steve McNulty before Town crafted a great chance to take the lead moments later.

Good build-up play released Ronnie Henry on the right and his low cross was well dummied by Gray. Stevenson failed to connect properly with his shot and the ball ran for Whalley at the far post, but he shanked his shot wide.

But Luton did take the lead on 17 minutes when Scott Griffiths’ long ball forward was well flicked on by Paul Benson into the path of Gray who curled his effort past the exposed Lee Butcher.

Welling tried to reply from a corner soon after that hit Lee Clarke, but his unwitting effort was easy for Mark Tyler.

Luton looked to hit on the break again moments later when Gray burst on to Alex Lacey’s long ball through, but as he raced past Blaine Hudson the centre-half pulled him down and was rightfully shown a yellow card.

Whalley’s overly-ambitious effort flashed miles over before the Wings almost netted an equaliser on 23 minutes. Joe Healy did well to retrieve a lost cause and Tyler did superbly to keep out Lafayette’s header that deflected off Lacey, before McNulty recovered to brilliantly block the striker’s follow-up.

The visitors continued to look dangerous when pressing forward as Clarke fired harmlessly off target before Town should have doubled their lead on 26 minutes when Alex Lawless’ brilliant reverse pass set Benson clean through but, one-on-one with Butcher, he somehow scooped just wide when he should have found the net.

At the other end a Lafayette header was easy for Tyler before the Wings should have levelled just past the half-hour. Kurtis Guthrie raced on to Clarke’s excellent pass inside of Griffiths and, with just Tyler to beat, he unselfishly squared for Jake Gallagher who miskicked wide with net begging.

It was a strange affair as both teams had chances despite both the slow tempo and a lack of composure.

Skipper Henry, yet to score for the Hatters, had a real chance 10 minutes before the break when Whalley’s clever pass released Gray, but Henry could only force his chipped cross to the back post wide.

Twice the Hatters went close in a matter of seconds when Gray couldn’t connect properly with Whalley’s cross and Butcher then pulled off a great low save to keep out Stevenson’s firm header from Andy Parry’s excellent centre.

Referee Huxtable’s decisions seemed to be weighted in the visitors’ favour during the first half as the frustrations of the home fans gradually welled up.

And much to the despair of the Kenilworth Road crowd the Wings played on with Henry down in the box with a head injury as Huxtable again failed to deal with the situation.

Thankfully, despite threatening, the Wings failed to carve out any clear-cut chances as Town broke at the other end with Whalley eventually driving over.

The officials were met with a chorus of boos as they made their way off the pitch and more controversy ensued moments into the second half when Healy tried to burst into the area and went down amid a mass of McNulty, Lacey and Henry with Huxtable pointing to the spot much to the dismay of Town’s defenders.

Tyler guessed right as he went to his right to save but Dyer was on hand to accurately fire home the rebound into the far corner.

The Luton keeper then pulled off a great one-handed save to keep out Lafayette’s low drive on 49 minutes before Hudson’s header from a corner bounced just wide as Clarke held his head in his hands.

It was all Welling as Town brought Guttridge on for Whalley before Guthrie was just unable to get on the end of Baily Cargill’s low, driven cross that flashed across the face of goal.

Healy fired well over before the Hatters finally started to come back into it.

Benson’s clever chip was flapped over by Butcher from Gray’s pass, as Matt Robinson was introduced for the slightly lost Stevenson.

The Hatters proceeded to push as Gray’s daisycutter was turned just past the post with neither Lacey nor Griffiths able to force home the resulting corner.

An underhit McNulty pass to Griffiths put Town in trouble with 20 minutes to play as Guthrie raced clear on the right but, with a man unmarked in the centre, Lacey’s outstretched boot prevented the Wings from potentially snatching the lead.

Town were struggling to make an impact in the second half with Huxtable’s whistle a common occurrence for the visitors, before Luton retook the lead out of the blue on 79 minutes.

Guttridge’s pass released Lawless and, although Benson was unable to turn it in, his touch ran for the offside-looking Gray to bundle home from close range.

Re-energised by the goal Guttridge almost played in Gray for his hat-trick but Butcher beat him in the footrace.

Griffiths then hung up a cross into the six-yard box but Gray’s header just lacked purchase, before Guttridge released Benson but his shot was blocked by two defenders.

Luton were finishing strongly as Benson’s diving header went miles wide, while McNulty finished the match with a bandaged head having picked up an earlier knock.

Hudson barged Gray off the ball in the area in the last minute as he raced on to Guttridge’s pass, but unsurprisingly no decision from Huxtable was forthcoming.

And in the fourth minute of stoppage-time the officials’ rotten afternoon was summed up when Benson looked to latch on to Robinson’s long ball over the top in the fourth minute of stoppage time and the linesman flagged for a Franks tug on Benson as Huxtable issued an unneeded red card at the death as the Hatters ground out a hard-fought and much-needed victory.

Hatters (4-4-2): Mark Tyler, Steve McNulty, Alex Lawless, Scott Griffiths, Andy Parry, Shaun Whalley (Luke Guttridge 53), Ronnie Henry (C), Paul Benson, Andre Gray, Jim Stevenson (Matt Robinson 63), Alex Lacey. Substitutes not used: Jake Howells, Mark Cullen, Elliot Justham.

Wings (4-3-3): Lee Butcher, Loui Fazakerley (Kiernan Hughes-Mason 79), Jake Gallagher, Fraser Franks, Lee Clarke (C), Kurtis Guthrie, Ross Lafayette, Blaine Hudson, Alex Dyer, Baily Cargill, Joe Healy. Substitutes not used: Jamie Turner, Callum Webb, Sam Corne, Josh Ekim.

Referee: Brett Huxtable.

Assistant Referees: G Kinnear and N Evans.

Booked: Hudson 19; Benson 88.

Sent Off: Franks 90+4.

Fourth Official: J Paterson.

Attendance: 6,592 (Welling 124).

Star Hatter: Andre Gray. Took his goals superbly and showed real tenacity and desire.