This match report was kindly provided courtesy of the superb Luton Town news Website www.lutontoday.co.uk.  Lutontoday.co.uk kindly allow us to use their match reports, and, as Hatters fans, we'd urge you to check out their excellent Website, which always contains up-to-date Luton Town news, views and match reports.  The photos are also with the kind permission of Luton Town Football Club and their excellent photographer Gareth Owen.

VENUE The Walkers Stadium ATTENDANCE 22,048 REFEREE P Armstrong (Berkshire) MATCH DATE 27 August 2005 KICK OFF TIME 15:00

LEICESTER CITY Rab Douglas   Alan Maybury   Nils-Eric Johansson   Patrick McCarthy   Richard Stearman   Mark de Vries 80   Mohammed Sylla Elvis Hammond 66   Joey Gudjonsson Gareth Williams   Danny Tiatto Jason Wilcox 79   Dion Dublin   David Connolly   SUBS NOT USED Patrick Kisnorbo   Paul Henderson

LUTON TOWN Marlon Beresford   Kevin Foley   Curtis Davies   Markus Heikkinen   Paul Underwood   Ahmet Brkovic   Carlos Edwards 78   Steve Robinson   Chris Coyne 56   Kevin Nicholls   Dean Morgan   Sol Davis 55 Enoch Showunmi   Warren Feeney   SUBS NOT USED Dean Brill   Peter Holmes

Match Report	27 August 2005
Leicester City 0 - 2 Luton Town

LEICESTER CITY 0 N/A  LUTON TOWN 2 Ahmet Brkovic '42 Kevin Nicholls (pen) '90

HATS OFF TO NEWELL'S SIDE AS LUTON WIN AGAIN...

Mike Newell made a victorious return to former club Leicester City as Luton Town continued their impressive start to the season.

Ahmet Brkovic put the Hatters ahead with a sublime overhead kick shortly before half-time.

And after Leicester had huffed and puffed in the second period and hit a post through Dion Dublin, Luton secured the three points with an injury-time penalty from skipper Kevin Nicholls.

The win lifted Luton to joint second in the table, two points behind early leaders Sheffield United.

Luton made five changes to the side that beat Leyton Orient 3-1 in the Carling Cup in midweek as Kevin Foley, Markus Heikkinen, Paul Underwood, Ahmet Brkovic and Steve Robinson all returned to the side.

But the starting 11 included only one change to the side that lost at Stoke City in the League last weekend as Enoch Showunmi replaced Steve Howard, who served the second of his three match ban after his red card in the Potteries.

The Walkers Stadium may have been the setting for the day's action, but there was no crisp play from either side early on as the flow of the game was interrupted by fouls by both teams.

The only chances of note in the opening period saw Curtis Davies have an 18-yard header from Dean Morgan's long 16th minute free-kick clumsily pushed aside by Rab Douglas, while Gareth Williams shot over from 20-yards for the Foxes after Danny Tiatto's cross had been half-cleared.

Proceedings finally livened up in the 28th minute when Luton survived a double scare from the home side.

Firstly Davies stretched superbly to hook David Connelly's low cross away from the lurking Dion Dublin. And then when the ball came back in from Momo Sylla, Marlon Beresford produced a smart block with his legs from Gareth Williams' stabbed shot from six-yards.

"Brkovic lit up the afternoon as the Hatters opened the scoring"

The game spluttered on with both sides squandering possession and resorting to long-ball tactics until a moment of magic from Brkovic lit up the afternoon as the Hatters opened the scoring three minutes before the break.

Warren Feeney did well to head Morgan's corner back across goal and the 'Croatian Sensation' leapt to net with a superb overhead kick from eight-yards for his third goal of the season.

Brkovic's good work was almost undone by Morgan two minutes later when, in trying to clear a Leicester free-kick, the former Reading man horribly sliced his clearance up into the air and across the goalmouth for Nils-Eric Johansson to head just over from 10-yards.

The Foxes pushed on after the break and Williams, who had looked Leicester's most accomplished player in the first-half, burst from midfield four minutes after the restart, rounded Davies, but then shot high and wide with just Beresford to beat.

Williams caused problems again three minutes later when his shot from the edge of the area bounced off Nicholls into the path of Connelly, but the former West Ham United man took too long and was dispossessed by a combination of Foley and Brkovic.

There was another close call for the Hatters in the 53rd minute when Sylla crossed for Dublin, whose header deflected just inches past the post.

Luton reshaped when Chris Coyne and Sol Davis entered the fray in the 56th minute replacing Steve Robinson and Dean Morgan respectively and allowing Heikkinen and Underwood to push up from their starting positions.

And Luton carved out an opening nine minutes later when Feeney's low cross was laid off by Showunmi for Underwood to hit a rare right-footed effort that curled just over from 15-yards.

Another swift break from the Hatters followed in the 74th minute when Underwood picked out Showunmi with a superb cross-field ball and the Nigerian cleverly played in Brkovic who could only shoot tamely at Douglas from 12-yards out.

The home side came back with Williams again the danger man as he saw his 80th minute volley from the edge of the area after Joey Gudjonsson's cross athletically tipped over by Beresford.

Leicester came even closer to an equaliser in the 90th minute when substitute Jason Wilcox crossed for Dublin to poke an effort goal wards - only for the ball to hit the inside of the post and roll all the way back across goal behind the beaten Beresford.

Dublin himself was first to the loose ball, but his cross was headed out by Coyne.

"Luton hit the hosts on the break in injury-time"

As Leicester pressed, Luton hit the hosts on the break in injury-time when Showunmi latched on to an under hit McCarthy back-pass and won a penalty that was despatched with aplomb by Nicholls to bag the points for the Hatters.

TO VIEW AHMET BRKOVIC'S GOAL IN VIDEO AND AUDIO ('.WMV' FILE FORMAT, SIZE 3.75MB), PLEASE CLICK HERE.

TO VIEW KEVIN NICHOLLS' GOAL IN VIDEO AND AUDIO ('.WMV' FILE FORMAT, SIZE 6MB), PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Newell's Comments	27 August 2005
Leicester City 0-2 Luton Town “I think that win was as unconvincing as we’ve been in the six games we’ve played so far if you count the Carling Cup game, but we rode our luck a little bit at times – especially in the second-half – but we stood up and competed and it isn’t easy coming away to a side established in the Championship and who have been in the Premiership recently but we’re pleased with the points we have on the board so far. “The players were working towards playing at grounds like this last season so it won’t frighten them but I thought we were a little sluggish today but with the games we’ve had recently, that is to be expected. “I always maintained the people who started the season will keep the shirts if they’re performing, so Sol Davis and Chris Coyne started on the bench, but I brought them on as I felt we needed their defensive qualities so it was just tactical bringing them on. “You have to ride your luck at times – you’re never going to have it your own way. We’ve just come out of League One and we’re playing against better sides so there will be periods when you do come under pressure and you’ll have to ride your luck and Marlon made a good save and they hit the post and another day it goes in, but today we had the luck. “Sol Davis got booked near the end and I thought it was a good challenge and we’re at the stage where anyone who makes an aggressive tackle now either gets booked or penalised and we’ll end up having tackling taken out of the game. “Leicester have a great new stadium and this is what it is all about. They have a stadium fit for the Premier League and one day their ambition will get them back there and our lads want to play at places like this and these are the stages you want to play on. “Ahmet Brkovic scored a goal worthy of winning any game and it was virtually the winner. The penalty was just the icing on the cake and we just hope he keeps producing it.”

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