A quickfire double late into the second half secured three points in style following a 3-1 victory over Sutton United at The Brache.
Goals from Fin Evans, Excel Ed-Okungbowa and Dawid Gawel ensured Town would secure their first win in four games after a draw with Stevenage and defeats to Cambridge and Northampton respectively.
In an uneventful opening 45 minutes for both sides, quality came at a premium, with our Hatters unable to force the opposition goalkeeper into any real saves. At the other end of the pitch, Riley Flynn produced a smart save to deny Sutton a chance just before the break.
Just six minutes after the break, following changes to both personnel and the system by Joe Deeney, young centre-back Evans, who made his first-team debut against Brighton U21s and became the club’s youngest goal-scorer in the same game, again showed his knack for putting the ball into the net.
The lead was short-lived for Town as the visitors equalised just past the hour mark, following a deep free-kick that wasn’t cleared the first time of asking, allowing a Sutton player to pounce and bring parity back to the score-line.
The Hatters bounced back superbly following the set-back, restoring the lead with two goals in as many minutes, with another game changer being heavily involved.
Gawel, who has made a habit of scoring some absolute screamers in recent months, turned provider when he came on as a substitute by taking the ball out wide before cutting inside to poke through an excellent pass to strike partner Ed-Okungbowa, who used his strength to hold off the defender before slotting a composed finish into the net.
With spectators still celebrating, and score updates still going out across the club’s academy media, a cross from the left hand side was headed clear by the Sutton defence – the ball landing on the edge of the area for Gawel to fire first time with a superb strike past the Sutton keeper to make it 3-1 to the Hatters.
TOWN: Flynn, Evans, Kwame Anson, Barnes, Source (sub Frimpong-Kwakye 45’), Knotte-Reed (sub Gawel 68’), El Gourja (sub Isufi 59’), Roberts-Edema, Lesser, Hincapie-Alfonso (sub Asamoah-Junior 45’), Ed-Okungbowa
Written by: Liam Wilmot
