Luton Town 0 Preston North End 1 Potts
Luton Town line-up: Horvath; Burke, Bradley, Potts (Thorpe, 63); Bree, Campbell (Jerome, 90), Clark, Freeman (Woodrow, 63), Bell; Morris, Adebayo. Subs not used: Macey, Lockyer, Watson, Osho.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Whiteman, Ledson, Brady (Johnson, 79); McCann (Riis, 69), Browne (Woodburn, 79); Parrott (Bauer, 90+2). Subs not used: Cornell, Cunningham, Slater.
Attendance: 9,740 (895 PNE fans).
Referee: Mr D Whitestone.
A wonder-strike from Brad Potts was enough to earn Preston North End a first league victory of the season, away to Luton Town.
It was a stunning volley from Potts – his 50th career goal – which put the visitors ahead at Kenilworth Road, and they continued to be the side on top as they took three points back to Lancashire.
Ryan Lowe made two changes from his side’s last Championship outing, with Ali McCann and Ryan Ledson coming in to replace Daniel Johnson and Emil Riis.
Luton had the first half-chances of the game through headers from Luke Freeman and Carlton Morris, but they were both easy enough for goalkeeper Freddie Woodman to gather.
It was North End who took the lead, though, and in some style too, with Brady sending a fantastic cross into the box, and there came Potts to jump into the air and fire home a superb volley to make it two goals in his last two games.
At the other end, PNE were winning all the headers in the box and blocking anything that came their way, and Woodman also did well when called into action to keep out Allan Campbell’s flick from close range.
Just a few minutes before half-time, provider for the opener Brady came close to getting on the scoresheet himself, as he fired a low, right-footed effort towards goal, where Ethan Horvath dived low to his right to keep it out.
The opening to the second half saw North End in charge, passing the ball about nicely, and it was a good move which opened up space for Jordan Storey to take aim from distance on 53 minutes, but his effort flew over the bar.
Hughes then came close on the hour mark, heading down on the end of a Potts cross and seeing his shot blocked to divert it behind for a corner.
The hosts had a big chance seven minutes from time, as substitute Woodrow got on the end of a ball over the top and volleyed the ball over Woodman, but only on to the roof of the net.
Fellow forward Adebayo was then next to come close on 87 minutes, turning Storey and making his way in to the box, before firing over the bar.
North End then nearly scored themselves in the 89th minute through Parrott, but Horvath saved and PNE left Kenilworth Road with a deserved 1-0 victory.
Luton Town manager Nathan Jones told BBC Radio Three Counties:
"It's frustrating in a number of ways really. They probably had two opportunities really, one was a great header and one was shot from the edge of the box, but apart from that we limited them to very little.
"We've had enough of the game to have won it, so it's just a little bit frustrating.
"It's very difficult to chase a game now in the Championship, with the heat and everything. There was very little flow really.
"We tried to create a tempo in the game, but it just gets killed, and then a water break - we might as well not play in the heat. Why play? Just wait 'til it's cool, wait 'til it's cold. It's crazy because there's no flow."
Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I thought the performance was OK. We could have done better in certain situations.
"We scored a fantastic goal, I thought we defended very well and manged the game well.
"You can't come to Luton and go toe-to-toe with them. We knew that the game plan was a little bit different than what it normally is because we have to respect a good Luton team that have just missed out in getting to the Premier League last season.
"We found a way today and we found a way to take three points off a very good team."
Luton Town line-up: Horvath; Burke, Bradley, Potts (Thorpe, 63); Bree, Campbell (Jerome, 90), Clark, Freeman (Woodrow, 63), Bell; Morris, Adebayo. Subs not used: Macey, Lockyer, Watson, Osho.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Whiteman, Ledson, Brady (Johnson, 79); McCann (Riis, 69), Browne (Woodburn, 79); Parrott (Bauer, 90+2). Subs not used: Cornell, Cunningham, Slater.
Attendance: 9,740 (895 PNE fans).
Referee: Mr D Whitestone.
A wonder-strike from Brad Potts was enough to earn Preston North End a first league victory of the season, away to Luton Town.
It was a stunning volley from Potts – his 50th career goal – which put the visitors ahead at Kenilworth Road, and they continued to be the side on top as they took three points back to Lancashire.
Ryan Lowe made two changes from his side’s last Championship outing, with Ali McCann and Ryan Ledson coming in to replace Daniel Johnson and Emil Riis.
Luton had the first half-chances of the game through headers from Luke Freeman and Carlton Morris, but they were both easy enough for goalkeeper Freddie Woodman to gather.
It was North End who took the lead, though, and in some style too, with Brady sending a fantastic cross into the box, and there came Potts to jump into the air and fire home a superb volley to make it two goals in his last two games.
At the other end, PNE were winning all the headers in the box and blocking anything that came their way, and Woodman also did well when called into action to keep out Allan Campbell’s flick from close range.
Just a few minutes before half-time, provider for the opener Brady came close to getting on the scoresheet himself, as he fired a low, right-footed effort towards goal, where Ethan Horvath dived low to his right to keep it out.
The opening to the second half saw North End in charge, passing the ball about nicely, and it was a good move which opened up space for Jordan Storey to take aim from distance on 53 minutes, but his effort flew over the bar.
Hughes then came close on the hour mark, heading down on the end of a Potts cross and seeing his shot blocked to divert it behind for a corner.
The hosts had a big chance seven minutes from time, as substitute Woodrow got on the end of a ball over the top and volleyed the ball over Woodman, but only on to the roof of the net.
Fellow forward Adebayo was then next to come close on 87 minutes, turning Storey and making his way in to the box, before firing over the bar.
North End then nearly scored themselves in the 89th minute through Parrott, but Horvath saved and PNE left Kenilworth Road with a deserved 1-0 victory.
Luton Town manager Nathan Jones told BBC Radio Three Counties:
"It's frustrating in a number of ways really. They probably had two opportunities really, one was a great header and one was shot from the edge of the box, but apart from that we limited them to very little.
"We've had enough of the game to have won it, so it's just a little bit frustrating.
"It's very difficult to chase a game now in the Championship, with the heat and everything. There was very little flow really.
"We tried to create a tempo in the game, but it just gets killed, and then a water break - we might as well not play in the heat. Why play? Just wait 'til it's cool, wait 'til it's cold. It's crazy because there's no flow."
Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I thought the performance was OK. We could have done better in certain situations.
"We scored a fantastic goal, I thought we defended very well and manged the game well.
"You can't come to Luton and go toe-to-toe with them. We knew that the game plan was a little bit different than what it normally is because we have to respect a good Luton team that have just missed out in getting to the Premier League last season.
"We found a way today and we found a way to take three points off a very good team."
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