Moncur: I thought 'good night, it's going in' when scoring free-kick against Wycombe

Midfielder always knew set-piece would find the bottom corner
George Moncur wheels away after scoring the leveller against Wycombe on SaturdayGeorge Moncur wheels away after scoring the leveller against Wycombe on Saturday
George Moncur wheels away after scoring the leveller against Wycombe on Saturday

Luton midfielder George Moncur always knew that he was going to add to his scrapbook of excellent free kicks for the Hatters once the set-piece left his foot at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.

The 27-year-old lined up some 25 yards from goal at Adams Park with Town trailing 1-0 and just 10 minutes left in the game.

Wanderers keeper David Stockdale should really have known what to expect, with Moncur scoring excellent set-pieces from similar positions against Portsmouth, Fleetwood and Mansfield during his time at Kenilworth Road so far.

However, he was powerless to prevent the former West Ham youngster curling a low effort around the wall which nestled into the bottom corner to make it 1-1 and restore parity.

Moncur always thought his fourth of the season was on its way, saying: “I’ve done a few of them as I think where the keeper expects the wall to stop that one, he gives you quite a bit of room to score in that corner.

“As long as you get the technique to whip it round, he sees it late, he hasn’t really got a chance to get it, so that’s what I try and do anyway.

“When I hit a shot in training and I know it’s going in, I always say ‘good night’, and as soon as it went round the wall, I actually thought ‘yeah, good night, it’s going in’, so I was really happy it went in.”

Before Moncur stepped up there were a number of players looking to take the free kick, with Kal Naismith and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall both candidates.

It was the ex-Colchester and Barnsley player who got the nod though, thanks to his team-mates, as he continued: “Sonny Bradley and (Harry) Cornick were here with me last year.

“Obviously Naisy’s come here, he wasn’t here with me last year, and Dewsbury-Hall wasn’t here with me last year, but they were saying, ‘let George have it’.

“That position for me is the one that I really like. Not a lot of people think you’re going to go that way round the wall.

“I know the technique I do and thankfully enough praise God it went in again, so it’s all glory to him.”

Fellow substitute Kazenga LuaLua was always keen to see Moncur step up, even if the midfielder had doubts originally, saying: “He didn’t even want to take it!

“When we had the free kick, everyone was looking at George and said ‘this is a free kick, what you do best’.

“He didn’t want to take it for some reason, so we just let him take it which he did, it was nice for George and I’m happy for him to get his goal.”

Following on from Moncur’s free kick, the Hatters swarmed all over their opponents, LuaLua making it 2-1 with a magnificent strike into the top corner.

Striker Elijah Adebayo grabbed the third with a powerful header from Harry Cornick's cross, as Moncur added: “He’s (LuaLua) got that in his locker all day long and whoever comes on always does well and changes the game in a way they can.

“To be fair, we weren’t even going to do a short corner, but they left one out, so I ran over, got it quick and then laid it for him.

“He did the rest which is the hardest bit ever, come inside and whip it in the top corner, so it’s superb finish.

"Harry has done that for a lot of games now, his quality is improving every week with his crosses as he works on that a lot.

"His ball was unbelievable and a great header from Elijah."