Luton Town: Three goals, three points and three wins in a row for the Hatters

Morecambe 1 Luton Town 3

LUTON Town continued their march up the League Two table thanks to a 3-1 victory over Morecambe.

The Hatters, who had recorded two straight home league wins over Mansfield and Wimbledon going into Tuesday night’s away clash, made it three on the bounce to move to within just two points of the play-offs in 11 ^th place.

Goals from Luke Wilkinson and Cameron McGeehan either side of Tom Barkhuizen’s leveller for Morecambe put them in the driving seat at half-time.

While Jonathan Smith’s deflected shot on 88 minutes wrapped up a solid evening’s work for the visitors.

Manager John Still made one change following Saturday’s 2-0 win over AFC Wimbledon, with Scott Cuthbert replacing Stephen O’Donnell at right-back.

And the Hatters made a bright start at the Globe Arena with Craig Mackail-Smith’s snapshot held by home goalkeeper Barry Roche after just 30 seconds.

Roche then held a blast from McGeehan on 11 minutes – but, moments later the Hatters were ahead.

Josh McQuoid teed up Olly Lee on the edge of the box and the midfielder’s shot was blocked behind for a corner. But from Paddy McCourt’s left-wing corner, Wilkinson rose highest at the back to nod home.

On 18 minutes Morecambe came close to levelling when a right-wing corner found Alex Kenyon unmarked at the back post but his powerful header was tipped over superbly by Mark Tyler.

While Luton continued to press in search of a second goal, the home side were slowly creeping back into the game and on 25 minutes they equalised. The ball was driven across from the left to Barkhuizen and the Shrimps’ striker tapped home from inside the six-yard box.

However, the home side weren’t level for long because two minutes later Luton restored their lead. McCourt danced past a number of Morecambe challenges before firing a shot that Roche couldn’t hold and McGeehan followed-up quickest to fire home to make it 2-1.

With their noses in front for a second time, McCourt fired a free-kick into the Morecambe wall on 39 minutes.

As the break approached the home side pressed Town back as they went in search of another leveller, only to find the Hatters defence and Tyler in their way with the Luton goalkeeper saving from goalscorer Barkhuizen.

Morecambe made a change at the interval, bringing on Kevin Ellison, but the visitors missed a chance to make it 3-1 two minutes after the restart when McQuoid found Mackail-Smith but he blazed high and wide.

The Hatters continued to press for a third and Wilkinson headed over on 55 minutes before Mackail-Smith’s header at the back post almost caused confusion in the hosts’ penalty area four minutes later.

However the home side upped the ante in search of an equaliser. Tyler saved a swerving shot from Barkhuizen on 62 minutes before the Town keeper pounced on the ball amid a mad scramble in the box from the follow-up before Andrew Fleming drove a shot a yard wide a minute later.

As time ticked down, Morecambe thought they had levelled on 77 minutes when half-time substitute Ellison lashed home – only to see his fine effort ruled out for offside, much to the disgruntlement of the Morecambe fans.

But as the home side ran out of ideas, the Hatters made the game safe with three minutes left when Smith bundled his way through the home defence to follow up a deflected shot which hit the post to tap home.

The result sees Luton leapfrog their opponents in the table, with their next fixture seeing another long trip to face Hartlepool on Saturday.

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