Luton beat Cardiff to move out of bottom three

Luton got back to winning ways as they ended Cardiff’s impressive run with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Kenilworth Road.

Jacob Brown’s 57th-minute strike secured the Hatters a first win in four and moved them out of the Championship’s relegation zone.

And they moved above their opponents on goal difference as the Welsh side’s six-match unbeaten run came to an end.

The visitors had the best chance early on as with two minutes gone, Anwar El Ghazi got up well to glance a corner wide.

Town responded as Carlton Morris picked out the recalled Brown whose swivel and shot was easy for Jak Alnwick, before Callum Robinson rifled wildly over at the other end.

The game then became a pretty average affair, as neither side created anything of note.

As the half drew to a close there finally was some action for those watching, with El Ghazi’s long-range free-kick well handled by Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski.

Town then created a chance of their own but Amari’i Bell’s deep cross was headed over the crossbar by Morris.

Robinson saw his cute lob fail to come down in time, before Luton felt they should have had a penalty at the other end.

Doughty’s free-kick was met by Morris just seconds before the break and appeared to be handled behind by City defender Dimitrios Goutas.

Referee Matt Donohue awarded a corner to the frustrations of the Hatters’ players and skipper Morris booked for his animated protests.

City’s half-time substitute Yalou Meite almost broke the deadlock straight away in the second period as his diving header was tipped over the bar by Kaminski.

Luton took the lead when Doughty’s corner was met by a powerful header from Brown that flew in off the underside of the bar.

Cardiff almost responded from the kick-off. Rubin Colwill teed up David Turnbull who tried to beat Kaminski from inside his own half and the Belgium international scampering to his left to palm behind for a corner.

Luton started to put some good moves together, particularly on their left. Morris held the ball up well before backheeling for the overlapping Doughty, but substitute Elijah Adebayo was unable to divert on target.

Turnbull had another crack in the 73rd minute, but Kaminski collected easily, before a Mark McGuinness header was gathered by Alnwick just before Jordan Clark could intervene as Luton chased a second.

Cardiff tried to level late on, Cian Ashford and Calum Chambers both sending wayward shots behind.

But Town, despite a late injury to Doughty, held on to move up 19th in the table.

The managers

Luton’s Rob Edwards:

“I think we played well, but you can see Cardiff are playing well at the minute.

“They’ve got a good rhythm, a confidence and belief there, the run that they’ve been on and some very good players as well.

“After the first 15 minutes or so where we didn’t quite arrive quick enough in some of the pressing, after that we got to grips with it.

“We won it back a lot and I think the game was where we wanted it to be. They might have had the ball a little bit but we’ve got to try and keep it as far away from our goal as possible, which we did.

“I think that we certainly had the majority of the momentum and the game was where we wanted it to take place, so I think we deserved the win, but it was a night where it was important.”

Cardiff caretaker Omer Riza:

“I think the boys are really disappointed. To be undone with a set-play, which we know they’re strong at, was disappointing.

“Overall the performance wasn’t too bad. I thought we controlled some big parts of the game, it just wasn’t quite there today.

“We didn’t quite click the way we have done recently with our attacking threats. We still picked up good pockets, we still received the ball, we still pulled the opposition into positions they didn’t like, but just those final moments, we weren’t calculating enough.

“If we had been, I think we probably would have created a bit more, but credit to Luton, they got their result and we move forwards.”