Luton Town 1-0 Stoke City: Pelly Ruddock-Mpanzu helps Hatters beat Potters to go fourth
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Luton's players posed for a celebration picture after Pelly Ruddock-Mpanzu's first goal in almost 18 months
Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu fired a long-range winner as Luton Town beat Stoke City to go fourth in the Championship with their sixth victory in seven league games.
After Alfie Doughty's header met a goal-kick from new on-loan Stoke City keeper Matija Sarkic, target man Elijah Adebayo won the second ball - and the long-serving midfielder latched onto his lay-off to power forward and find the bottom-left corner with a low daisy cutter of a right-foot shot from 20 yards.
On his 345th career appearance for the Hatters, and on Stoke's first without £15m deadline day departee Harry Souttar, Ruddock's first goal in 52 appearances since August 2021 proved enough to hand struggling Stoke a second successive away league defeat.
Defeat came at a further cost as Josh Tymon was stretchered off and sent to hospital following a yellow-card rated challenge from Cody Drameh, just five minutes after the on-loan Leeds United midfielder had been booked for a challenge on him.
After hitting seven goals in their last two games, against Reading and then Stevenage in the FA Cup, it took Stoke 67 minutes to get their first shot on target against Rob Edwards' well-marshalled Hatters.
But although they had a penalty shout, skipper Lewis Baker's left-foot effort, saved by on-loan Nottingham Forest keeper Ethan Horvath, proved to be their only one.
And, in a game of few chances, it was Ruddock's first goal at Kenilworth Road since October 2020 that did the damage as Luton claimed their second 1-0 home win in five days.
Luton then hung on in a tight contest to maintain their current run of form - and leave Alex Neil's Stoke now just six points above the drop zone.
Who's next?
Luton's next Championship test is at Coventry next Saturday, when Stoke entertain improving Hull City.
But before then, the Hatters face an FA Cup fourth-round replay on Tuesday night at Blundell Park against League Two Grimsby Town.
Luton Town manager Rob Edwards told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"We know how difficult the challenge is but we've put ourselves right in the mix and now given ourselves a great chance.
"Two wins here in a week is fantastic. Let's realise why we're in this position and enjoy it. But, at the same time, we need to stay humble.
"The defenders were terrific but they only back up the work done by the two forwards who work so hard up front and press so well.
"And the midfielders are so honest and hard working they back up the forwards' work. And it was a really good goal. Alfie Doughty won the header, we won the second ball and Pelly latched onto it."
Stoke City manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Stoke:
"Josh Tymon has been rushed to hospital. That tells you the severity of how bad we think it is. I'll find out in the next few days.
"It was a bad tackle but there were a lot of decisions that didn't go our way. When the crowd's rallying and shouting for every ball it makes a difference and we certainly didn't get our fair share.
"You can see why they're high in the table and doing well as they're effective at what they do. They've got two centre forwards who are a handful. They're two big lumps who can get across the park.
"But we kept the ball better in the second half and we didn't take our chances. There was not a lot in the game. But they got the goal - and we didn't."
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