Luton Town 0-1 Spurs

The report in full...

Despite a dominant first half in which we had 11 shots at goal and enjoyed the majority of possession, we hadn’t been able to find the breakthrough and instead, were reduced to 10 men when Yves Bissouma was given a second yellow card just before the break.

But, although that meant the game was far more even in the second period, we snatched the lead seven minutes after the interval through our Dutch defender and then dug in in some style for the remainder of the game, putting bodies on the line to prevent Luton from grabbing an equaliser.

In the first meeting between the two sides since a goalless draw at Kenilworth Road in March, 1992, we made a blistering start in the Bedfordshire sunshine with three golden opportunities inside the opening seven minutes, but had nothing to show for our efforts. Richarlison prodded Dejan Kulusevski’s superb cross wide from inside the six-yard box before James Maddison slid in the Brazil international but Thomas Kaminski saved with an outstretched leg and Pedro Porro rolled wide after being put through by Heung-Min Son.

It was one-way traffic in those early stages and Kaminski saved again from Son in the 17^th minute after a defensive error from Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu. But as those chances came and went, Luton grew into the game and started to see more of the ball, Carlton Morris heading over from a corner with their first real sight of goal.

Kaminski made a fine stop on 30 minutes, tipping Kulusevski’s effort around the post after great work from Pape Matar Sarr and 10 minutes later, Luton had the ball in the net as Tom Lockyer nodded home from a yard out but the whistle had already gone for Elijah Adebayo’s foul on Cristian Romero.

Then came the pivotal moment of the half just before the interval. Bissouma, already on a yellow card, hit the ground while dribbling through a clutch of Luton defenders just outside the area and referee John Brooks booked him for diving, resulting in a red card.

That changed the pattern of the game and gave the home side a real advantage, one they should have taken just two minutes into the second half only for Adebayo to somehow get the ball stuck under his feet at the far post with the goal gaping. But on 52 minutes we finally found a way to goal, Maddison doing superbly well from a short corner to cut the ball back for van de Ven to fire left-footed past Kaminski.

Luton went close to a leveller as they stepped up in search of an equaliser but Alfie Doughty dragged a volley wide while Guglielmo Vicario – on his 27^th birthday - made a good stop from Morris, before Porro curled just wide with the outside of his left at the other end moments later.

Jacob Brown then headed well over when unmarked from a corner on 64 minutes and substitute Cauley Woodrow should have done better when put through but his weak effort was easy for Vicario. The home side were throwing everything at us but we were solid at the back with Romero and van de Ven superb, while lone front man Kulusevski was tireless in his running in the closing stages as we knocked the ball long to ease the pressure.

The Hatters launched balls into the box as the game ticked over into five minutes of stoppage time but we dealt with them all until the whistle sounded to mark a superb victory and send us top of the pile – for 24 hours at least. 

Happy days!