Luton on wrong end of heavy defeat at Barnsley

Luton’s recent unbeaten run came to an abrupt end as they suffered a heavy 5-0 reverse at Barnsley.

The Hatters had been unbeaten in their previous 3 outings without conceding a goal, but Barnsley would jump above the Bedfordshire club in the table as Reyes Cleary, Patrick Kelly, Luca Connell, a Gideon Kodua own goal and Davis Keilor-Dunn gave the hosts a commanding victory.

Defeat in Yorkshire means that Luton now sit 12th in the League One table, with Jack Wilshere’s side 4 points off the play-offs after 16 games.

Luton had won on each of their previous 3 visits to Oakwell, but nearly fell behind within 3 minutes as Vimal Yoganathan hit the crossbar. A busy start would then see Isaiah Jones have a shot saved before Barnsley opened the scoring with 7 minutes on the clock.

Keilor-Dunn’s pass released Cleary, and when through, the Barnsley man managed to chip Josh Keeley to put the ball into the Luton net.

Nahki Wells would round the Barnsley keeper only to be thwarted by last-gasp defending before Yoganathan hit the goal frame again with a shot that this time struck the post.

Ten minutes before half time, Barnsley made it 2-0 as Cleary crossed in for Kelly to tap the ball home from close range.

The Tykes then grabbed their third goal of the first half in the final minute of regular time in the first 45 as Connell swept in a perfectly placed free-kick.

A miserable day for Luton would get worse after the hour mark, with Kodua credited with the final touch as under pressure from Tennai Watson, the West Ham loanee ended up being the unlucky man as the ball ricocheted past Keeley into the back of the Hatters’ net.

Keillor-Dunn wrapped up the rout with a fifth goal with 15 minutes to go as he received Cleary’s pass and duly converted.

Luton have a quick turnaround before they go again and seek to move on from the contest, with the Hatters facing Huddersfield on Tuesday night.