Mpanzu happy to end Luton's 'sticky' record at St Andrew's with rare Blues victory

Luton midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu was happy his side were able to end their ‘sticky’ record at Birmingham City with a 1-0 win over the Blues on Saturday.

The Hatters had lost 3-0 on their last visit to St Andrew’s, as although they triumphed 1-0 in the 2020-21 campaign, there were no fans present to witness it due to Covid regulations.

Prior to that, Luton had lost four and drawn two of their six previous visits, with no triumph since the Division One season in 1986, club legend Mick Harford scoring a double on that day almost 40 years ago.

However, Carlton Morris’s 47th minute header was enough to secure the points at the the weekend and send the near 2,000 travelling fans home happy, as Mpanzu said: “Its been a bit sticky at St Andrews I can't lie, but it was great for us to get a win.

"The travelling fans are always great, so I'm glad that they're going home with three points.”

Town had gone into the contest without a win in three matches themselves, although only suffering one defeat, that at home to leaders Burnley.#

Mpanzu continued: “We wanted to get back to winning ways.

"We’ve put in three performances and think that we should have got more points.

"But it’s good to come here to Birmingham and get three points and back up what we’ve been trying to do all season.”

On a tough surface in the Midlands, the Hatters always looked like they had the better of their opponents, who are struggling for form, with manager John Eustace under increasing pressure.

Mpanzu, who had to drop into the back three during the second period after an injury to Reece Burke, said: “The pitch, it needs some Grass Gains, it needs H (Henri Lansbury) to come and give it some!

"It’s tough, but you’ve got to play the conditions.

"We turned the ball over a couple of times, put it into space, had a good chance with Clicker (Jordan Clark), unfortunately he didn’t score.

"Second half we got a good goal, good cross from Alfie (Doughty) to Carlton and then we made sure that we kept a clean sheet, me, Gabe (Osho) and Belly (Amari’i Bell) towards the end, so it was good for us to get the three points.

“We felt in control, we just needed to get one or two passes and get the switch in as they were very narrow, (Tahith) Chong was narrow and so was the other winger.

"We had to make sure we got one, two, three passes in to switch out to Cody (Drameh), switch to Alf, get our wingbacks in the game as that’s where the space was and that’s where the goal came from.”

Mpanzu almost helped Town add a second as linking well with Cody Drameh, he whipped over a terrific cross from the right wing that saw Morris glance his header narrowly wide.

He added: “I thought he’d score.

"He said it was very close, but unfortunately it didn't go in as it would have given us a little cushion as they got the ball into the box, but we defended well.”