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VENUE Kenilworth Road ATTENDANCE 7,665 REFEREE M J Jones (Chester) MATCH DATE 2 December 2006 KICK OFF TIME 15:00

LUTON TOWN Dean Kiely   Kevin Foley   Leon Barnett   Markus Heikkinen   Lewis Emanuel   Carlos Edwards   Steve Robinson David Bell   Ahmet Brkovic   Dean Morgan   Warren Feeney 56   Rowan Vine Adam Boyd 89   SUBS NOT USED Marlon Beresford   Richard Langley   Russell Perrett

PRESTON NORTH END Carlo Nash   Graham Alexander   Liam Chilvers   Sean St Ledger   Danny Pugh   Chris Sedgwick   Paul McKenna Tommy Miller   Brett Ormerod 45   Simon Whaley   Lewis Neal 74   Patrick Agyemang   Danny Dichio 56   David Nugent   SUBS NOT USED Kelvin Wilson   Andrew Lonergan

Match Report	2 December 2006
Luton Town 2 - 0 Preston North End

LUTON TOWN 2 Rowan Vine '2 Carlos Edwards '19  PRESTON NORTH END 0 N/A

HAPPY HATTERS STUN LEAGUE LEADERS PRESTON...

Luton Town put their horror run behind them to shock League leaders Preston North End at Kenilworth Road.

Rowan Vine's tenth goal of the season in the second minute and Carlos Edwards' sixth goal of the campaign put Luton 2-0 up at the break.

And the Hatters comfortably held on for the win despite a late fight back from the visitors.

The result was much needed for the Hatters and ended the eight consecutive League and Cup defeats that had marked the club's worst sequence of results in more than 100 years.

Luton made two changes to the side that lost 0-1 at Plymouth Argyle in midweek. David Bell came in for Russell Perrett meaning Markus Heikkinen moved back to centre-half after his recent exploits in midfield and Dean Morgan started the game upfront in place of Warren Feeney.

Preston, who included ex-Hatter Graham Alexander in their 11, kept the same side that drew 1-1 against Coventry City on Tuesday night.

After Barnsley's 2-2 draw at Leeds United earlier in the day, Luton knew they needed to avoid defeat to prevent them slipping into the bottom four.

And they got off to the perfect start by opening the scoring after just 74 seconds.

A foul by Simon Whaley on Edwards by the right touchline gave Bell the chance to flight a curling free-kick into the area.

"Vine took a touch before steering the ball past the exposed Carlo Nash"

The ball went over everyone, but Steve Robinson retrieved the situation by scampering to the left and crossing for Vine, who all alone inside the penalty area, took a touch before steering the ball past the exposed Carlo Nash, left-footed from 10 yards.

Luton were forced to defend for a period as Preston forced three corners, but it was Luton who almost scored again in the 13th minute.

Steve Robinson, playing against his former club, started and finished the move as he played in Edwards to tee up Kevin Foley to cross for Robinson to see his eight-yard right-foot volley tipped over by Carlo Nash.

A minute later Luton threatened again when Morgan's superb first-time cross from the right led to Vine having a shot blocked on the edge of the six-yard box before Ahmet Brkovic collected the rebound, turned his man and curled a left-footed effort past the far post from 10-yards.

"It was no surprise when Luton made it 2-0 in the 19th minute"

Luton looked lively going forwards and it was no surprise when they made it 2-0 in the 19th minute.

Vine combined well to release Bell down the left and after the ex-Rushden man's cross was half-blocked, Morgan collected the ball at the near post before beautifully creating space to drill a cross-shot across the goalmouth for Edwards to touch into the empty net at the far post.

With Preston looking anything but a table-topping team, Luton roared forwards again in the 26th minute when more slick interplay saw Morgan feed Vine, who set off on a marauding 30-yard run that left Liam Chilvers for dead, before firing a left-footed effort just wide of the post from 16-yards.

After Leon Barnett and Brkovic both placed 33rd minute headers at Nash, Preston finally created an opening a minute later when David Nugent wriggled free of Barnett for the first time in the game, reached the right by-line and pulled back for Tommy Miller, whose 15-yard shot was blocked by the backtracking Bell.

Nugent then raided down the left in the 38th minute only for his shot after turning inside to deflect wide off Heikkinen.

From Paul McKenna's resulting short corner, Alexander's low ball into the box found Nugent again, but just as the striker was about to pull the trigger six-yards out, Robinson intervened with a superb saving challenge.

The second-half started in sedate fashion with Luton happy to sit on their lead, but the best the Lilywhites could offer was a 20-yard Chris Sedgwick effort that flew off target just before the hour.

Luton, who saw Morgan limp off with injury, woke up and Edwards and Bell combined to set up Robinson for a cheeky 20-yard chip that Nash scrambled back to save.

Alexander blasted a 20-yard free-kick over in the 62nd minute before nervousness from Nash saw him collide with a defender when trying to field an Edwards cross in the 64th minute and Brkovic was able to fire a cross-shot to Vine who couldn't convert on the stretch at the far post.

Preston kept pushing and Sedgwick hit another long ranger just over in the 78th minute before Kiely produced three superb late saves from Nugent's bullet header, substitute Danny Dicho's aerial effort and fellow substitute Brett Ormerod's close-range attempt.

It wasn't all one way traffic though as Brkovic curled just wide from 20-yards and Bell saw a scorching effort blocked by Nash in stoppage time.

The only disappointment for Luton came from a poor gate with just 7,665 watching the action.

Newell's Comments	2 December 2006
Luton Town 2-0 Preston North End “I put a poem up in the changing room before the game – ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. “I've read it for years and it's something I believe in. "I have it pinned up in my office and I put it up in the dressing room for the lads to look at, but I don't think they could make head nor tail of it! "It feels great to win, particularly against the leaders. "I said in the week I would rather play the top team than the bottom team because everyone expects you to beat the bottom team. "But we can beat any team in the League on our day and we proved that against Preston."

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