Luton Town Edge Towards Premier League Trap Door in Wolverhampton Wanderers Defeat

Wolverhampton Wanderers earned their first Premier League win in six matches as goals from Hwang Hee-chan and Toti Gomes secured a 2-1 victory over Luton Town. 

Hwang put Wolves in front when he cut inside and saw his shot deflected into the bottom corner on 38 minutes, and Toti headed in from Mario Lemina’s cross on 50 minutes to give Luton a mountain to climb in their bid for top flight survival. 

Carlton Morris volleyed in from close range with 10 minutes remaining as Town rallied late on, but they failed to seriously test José Sá in the Wolves goal thereafter, and Gary O’Neil’s side claimed a deserved victory at Molineux.

The Hatters started brightly when Ross Barkley let rip from 25 yards and forced Sá to dive to his right and parry the ball away. However, Wolves swiftly took control, and Hwang forced Thomas Kaminski into a low save after racing onto Lemina’s through ball.

Town played an open, attacking game and created another opportunity to score on 37 minutes when Jordan Clark crossed from the left and Morris rose to head towards goal, but Toti did just enough to prevent the Luton striker from making firm contact.

Approximately 20 seconds after Sá collected Morris’ effort, Wolves were ahead. The home keeper kicked upfield to Matheus Cunha who wriggled free of Reece Burke and passed to Hwang. The South Korean twisted and turned in the box before shifting onto his right foot and finishing into the bottom right corner, via a deflection off the outstretched left leg of Teden Mengi. 

After the VAR controversy in midweek that saw Wolves harshly denied an equalising goal against Bournemouth, the home fans inside Molineux cheered sarcastically when referee David Coote eventually awarded Hwang’s goal against Luton. 

Emboldened by Hwang’s first goal in 2024, the old gold doubled their lead five minutes into the second half. João Gomes’ short corner was eventually whipped into the box by Lemina, where Toti escaped Daiki Hashioka’s feeble attempt to mark him and dived to head in from six yards out.

From then on Town appeared jaded and defeated, and could have fallen further behind when Nelson Semedo ran into acres of space down the right flank, a result of Rob Edwards shifting Alfie Doughty to right wing-back, substituting Hashioka and replacing him with Cauley Woodrow. The Portuguese eventually rolled onto his left foot but saw his tame shot saved by the legs of Kaminski. 

Luton did manage to halve the deficit in bizarre circumstances on 80 minutes. Doughty’s left-wing corner was met by Woodrow, who miscued his wild volley which flew straight back to Town’s number 45. Doughty then crossed to Burke at the back post, whose header back across the box was instinctively volleyed into the net by Morris from eight yards. 

Despite Wolves’ dominance throughout the game, the stage was set for a grandstand finish at Molineux. However, Luton seemed incapable of exerting themselves and applying some more pressure on the Wolves goal, despite some positive touches from returning striker Elijah Adebayo who came off the bench on 78 minutes. 

In one final push, Town substitute Luke Berry saw his half-volley held comfortably by Sá. As Coote blew his whistle one last time, Luton’s players dropped to their knees before applauding their 3,000 travelling fans. Edwards then walked the length of the pitch before being serenaded by The South Bank. While the home fans sang “Super Robbie Edwards” to the man who represented Wolves 111 times as a player, the Luton manager appeared despondent. The Hatters have three games left to save their Premier League status.