Oxford United's unbeaten run continued at the Kassam Stadium against second-bottom Luton Town this evening, thanks to a 3-2 victory with all three goals coming from defenders.
Luton took the lead twice, first through Tom Krauß and then through Mark McGuinness, but for United it was a tale of defenders on the scoresheet. Michał Helik got the first equaliser - his first goal for the club - to make it 2-1 to Luton at the break. In the second half, goals from Ciaron Brown and Greg Leigh were enough to see United over the line and extend the unbeaten run under Gary Rowett to seven league games.
Rowett made one change to the side that beat Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, with Matt Phillips starting in place of Rúben Rodrigues. There was a first appearance on the bench for new Dutch forward Ole Romeny although he will have to wait longer for his debut.
After a cagey opening 10 minutes, the game burst into life when Krauß was given too much space in the Oxford area and beat Jamie Cumming from nine yards to leave the U's trailing for the first time under Rowett in a league game.
Luton's lead lasted 11 minutes, and the equaliser came after the best move of the game so far. It ended with Greg Leigh slipping the ball down the line for Cameron Brannagan. His cross was met by Helik whose shot was too powerful for Thomas Kaminski to keep out.
Parity lasted three minutes before the Hatters took the lead again. This time a ball was floated over to the back of the area for McGuinness to head goalwards. Cumming punched clear, but Hawkeye determined that the ball had crossed the line and the U's were behind again.
Siriki Dembélé came close to a second equaliser on the half hour when he wriggled into the Luton area, claimed a rebound and got a shot away that Kaminski did well to get down to. A minute later, Dembélé again forced the Luton stopper into a save that he punched clear.
With something to hang on to, Luton were a lot less adventurous in the second half and were prepared to sit deep and try to hit United on the counter. However, on the hour they were undone by a Brannagan corner that fell kindly for Brown to volley home and level the scores again.
United took the lead after 68 minutes and it was another defender who found the net. Following a trademark long throw from Will Vaulks, the ball was played back to him and he floated a perfectly weighted cross that found Leigh in acres of space at the back post and he had the simplest task to head the ball into the unguarded net.
Oxford continued to press without unduly troubling Kaminski, while at the other end Cumming was similarly comfortable despite the plethora of set pieces that Luton played into the box.
The U's had to weather an onslaught in the six minutes of added time, but again the visitors failed to create any clear-cut openings and Oxford were able to see out the game and take what could be a huge three points.
Four straight home wins, and ready for Saturday's trip to Stoke.
UNITED: Cumming, Brown, Vaulks, Płacheta (ter Avest 81), Brannagan (Rodrigues 90), Harris (Bradshaw 65), Phillips (Matos 65), Leigh, Dembélé (Sibley), Kioso, Helik
Unused subs: Ingram, Long, Romeny, El Mizouni
Attendance: 11,035 (including 1,478 away fans)
Fifty/50 draw: Ticket 31350 wins £1,172
Report: Martin Brodetsky; Photography: JasonPix, Steve Edmunds, Steve Daniels, Darrell Fisher
