Jack Marriott scores twice as Luton beat Brighton at Kenilworth Road
Jack Marriott scored twice as Luton beat Brighton 2-1 in a pre-season friendly at Kenilworth Road.
The striker scored his first one after 27 seconds, and again in the second half after Lewis Dunk’s equaliser. The result is Luton’s second pre-season friendly victory of the season, and saw the Hatters bounce back from Tuesday night’s defeat by Boreham Wood.
Marriott missed the match on Tuesday through illness but celebrated his new 3 year contract in style. After intercepting Dunk’s misplaced pass, and fizzed a low effort beyond away goalkeeper Niki Maenpaa.
That set the tone for a period of early dominance by Nathan Jones’ team. The Hatters were looking likelier to get the games’ second goal, with the best chance seeing Cameron McGeehan head a corner over.
McGeehan was then involved again, with a low drive Maneppa kept out. The midfielder then came close again with a firm drive that Maenpaa had to keep out, while Luton had a number of similarly promising opportunities to break through a second.
After a slow start, Brighton began to get back into proceedings. And moments after Anthony Knockeart’s free-kick ruffled the roof of the net, the Championship side equalised. Jiri Skalak’s cross from the left picked out Dunk, who flicked his header past Luton’s Seagull loan keeper Christian Walton.
Luton had chances to regain their lead in what remained of the first half. McGeehan saw a shot deflected wide, while Danny Hylton headed the resulting corner over.
The Hatters then continued in such a vein after half-time. A hooked in free-kick was sent towards goal by Johnny Mullins, who was denied by Maenpaa, before Pelly Mpanzu’s rebound was blocked on the line by Dunk.
Brighton then came close to taking the lead through Elvis Manu. The striker’s first attempted rocked the crossbar, and his second was kept out by Walton.
Undaunted by that, Luton went back on the attack, with Hylton meeting a cross but denied by Maneepa. But the visiting keeper would then be beaten as Luton re-took the lead through Marriott. The scorer of the Hatters’ first was picked out by Stephen O’Donnell’s cross after a short corner, and bundled the ball over the line.
Although the game had flowed well until then, a raft of substitutions took the momentum out of the game. Ultimately, it allowed the Hatters to hold on and claim the victory.
Luton continue their pre-season schedule on Tuesday (26/07) with a trip to Woking. The Hatters then wrap up their pre-season by playing Walsall at home next Saturday (30/07), before kicking off the season with a visit to Plymouth on August 6th.