Luton suffer defeat at Derby in first Easter fixture
Luton Town suffered a 2-0 defeat by Derby County in the first of their Easter double header.
Lee Gregory and a Graeme Shinnie penalty was enough for Wayne Rooney’s team to take victory against Nathan Jones’ side.
The result is a defeat for Luton in their first fixture back after the international pause. It means the team sit 13th in the table, with the Hatters 13 points behind the play-offs and 15 points above the relegation zone.
Luton had named an unchanged starting 11 in their goal of making it 3 wins in a row, but would fall behind inside the opening 7 minutes.
A long pass picked out Martyn Waghorn, and his further pass across the six yard box was placed for Gregory to tap in.
Luton soon began to offer more going forward, and after Elijah Adebayo had one header go off target, the striker came very close when his first-time shot was well kept out by home goalkeeper David Marshall.
Marshall would then deny Glen Rea a few moments later, before Louis Sibley had a volley kept out by Simon Sluga.
Rea would then be involved at the other end of the pitch at the start of the second half.
Rea was penalised for a foul on Tom Lawrence in the opening minutes of the second half. Shinnie would assume the honours, and the Derby player was able to beat Sluga from 12 yards.
The away side would fail to register a shot on target in the second period, and that would allow Derby to pick up the points. The home side could’ve scored more, with Lawrence seeing a strike cleared off the line by Jordan Clark.
In the end, it was defeat for Luton, who will seek to pick themselves back up again when they host Barnsley on Easter Monday.