Luton's away misery continues after defeat at league leaders Cardiff City

Luton Town continued their troubled away form after a 3-1 defeat by Cardiff City in South Wales.

In a game that saw all the goals scored in the first half, Luton had got back on level terms when Jordan Clark cancelled out David Turnbull’s opener. But goals from Joel Colwill and Perry Ng swung the game back in favour of the League One leaders, who took the points.

Defeat at the Cardiff City Stadium continued Luton’s troubled away form. The Hatters have now lost 5 straight away League One games and haven’t won away since winning at Stockport in early November. The result means Northampton are now 8th in the League One table, sitting 4 points from the play-offs.

Cardiff made a bright start, with Josh Keeley making an early save to thwart Joel Bagan’s long ranger and Ollie Tanner missing the target.

An opening goal came for the Bluebirds after 11 minutes. Turnbull received Colwill’s pass into the box, and he duly beat Keeley to put the Welsh side ahead.

But a Hatters side chasing a third straight League One win would equalise after 20 minutes. Bogan brought down Isaiah Jones in the box for a spot-kick, and Clark duly beat Cardiff keeper Nathan Trott from the spot to bring Luton back level.

Cardiff continued to cause Luton bother and they would soon take control through two goals in six minutes near the end of the half.

Kasey Palmer was dispossessed in his own half and the ball was worked for Colwill, who struck the ball beyond Keeley to put Cardiff back in front after 37 minutes.

In the 42nd minute, Cardiff duly made it 3-1 when Ng struck a fine hit from 25 yards that found the back of the net.

Luton nearly fell further behind in the final stages of the half, with former Hatter Gabriel Osho hitting the bar after being picked out from a free-kick.

A few opportunities had fallen Luton’s way, with Devante Cole having a header at close range blocked before Trott denied Luton sub Ali Al-Hamadi.

But the hosts retained a threat of their own, with Keeley forced into a stop to keep out Chris Willock and then making a great stop to keep out Callum Robinson in the final minutes.

Victory would be Cardiff’s, however, with Luton missing out on the chance to make up ground on the play-off spots after 6th place Huddersfield lost.

Luton are next in action on Wednesday night, when they have another crack at ending their away day blues as they visit struggling Wigan Athletic.