Hatters boss frustrated as Akinfenwa scores again

Luton boss Nathan Jones was frustrated his side once again hadn't heeded his warnings about Wycombe Wanderers striker Adebayo Akinfenwa yesterday.
Wycombe striker Adebayo Akinfenwa causes problems to the Town defence once moreWycombe striker Adebayo Akinfenwa causes problems to the Town defence once more
Wycombe striker Adebayo Akinfenwa causes problems to the Town defence once more

The imposing striker put his side in front five minutes before half time, as he easily outjumped Glen Rea to head Michael Harriman’s cross beyond Mark Stech.

After the striker netted an equaliser during last year’s 1-1 draw at Adams Park, It was something that Jones had warned his defence about time and time again, but much to his annoyance, they still couldn’t cope, as he said: “We couldn’t really handle Akinfenwa and I’ve got to be honest with you, he’s been doing it for years, he’s one hell of a threat.

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“But he never scored against me, he never, ever scored a goal against me, and I’m 10 stone soaking wet.

“Because I was clever enough and if you go up against him and you want to battle him, you’re not going to win.

“So you have to be clever and we weren’t, we didn’t handle him.

“One ball in, we lost the header, we did it here last year.

“We were totally comfortable, one ball in and he scores, makes it 1-1 and we don’t learn, and that’s the frustrating thing.”

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Although Town battled back to triumph 2-1 in dramatic style with James Collins' last second winner, if Luton want to achieve their goal of promotion this term, Jones knows they are going to have to do much better against such physical opposition.

He added: “Every time we didn’t press, every time we didn’t stop forward play, they just put in your box and they get on the seconds and they’re a hard team to play against.

“It’s a fantastic three points, but we were nowhere near in terms of first half, in terms competing, in terms of how we went about it.

“We didn’t do the ugly side of stuff and credit to Wycombe, they put you under a lot of pressure, everything goes in your box from absolutely anywhere.

“But we’re having to get used to that, because that’s what basically we’re coming up against.”