Kolo Toure likes what he sees as Wigan stop the rot at Luton

Posted Sunday, January 08, 2023 by PA

Wigan boss Kolo Toure was eager to praise his side’s spirited performance as they ended a run of four straight defeats with a 1-1 draw at Luton in the FA Cup third round.

The Latics, who had conceded four times in their last three matches, went ahead through Tom Naylor’s goal after just 17 minutes, before being pegged back on the stroke of half-time by Harry Cornick’s equaliser.

Luton had the better of proceedings after the break but could not force a winner and Toure said: “I felt like (in the) first half we dominate the game.

“We scored a good goal and then in extra time, we made a little mistake and we concede from a ball getting in our box where we can be more aggressive.

“Second half Luton came back and they caused us a lot of problems, especially on the sides.

“First 30 minutes they dominated us really, we had to change to start blocking the side and the last 15 minutes we were on top.

“We create chances and I really want to praise the players. They gave everything they’ve got, put their body in front of the line, attacking-wise we were dangerous and the team spirit was unbelievable, winning, first, second balls.

“I’m very pleased with the performance from the squad.”

Naylor had pounced to put the Latics in front after home goalkeeper Ethan Horvath made a fine save from Callum Lang’s close range header, as Wigan went close to a second through Ashley Fletcher.

However, Cornick levelled just before the break, heading in Carlton Morris’ header, while the second period saw the Latics defend their box doggedly.

Wigan almost won it in stoppage time. Naylor’s looping header was tipped away by Horvath, before Lang turned in the resulting corner – but the effort was ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper.

Luton boss Rob Edwards said: “We paid for a slow start, what they did well and it’s their prerogative, they’re away from home, they’ve obviously come off the back of a few defeats and they slowed it down well.

“Every time the ball went out it was 30 seconds or a minute for a throw-in or a goal kick, or a free-kick, and then it’s up to us.

“We’ve got to lift it, we’ve got to lift that intensity and we didn’t do that well enough in the early stages of the game.

“Then we conceded and it was hard for us to wrestle any control back.

“We huffed and puffed, a fantastic equaliser at a great time, which didn’t really change my half-time team talk too much, because we needed to lift things.

“Credit to the lads, we did have that intensity second half, we played some really good football without that final cutting edge.”