Teden Mengi's first-half strike was just the second goal of his career
Luton Town collected their first win of the season as they held on to beat Millwall in a feisty clash at The Den.
Teden Mengi whipped in a fine 20-yard side-footed finish to give the visitors an early lead after Millwall goalkeeper Lukas Jensen had stopped Alfie Doughty’s low shot.
The Hatters almost made it two when Tahith Chong spun and hooked a first-time shot against the base of the far post as the ball bounced around the Lions box.
Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski denied Macaulay Langstaff late on, diverting his low shot past the post with his right boot.
The Belgian stopper was rarely tested, but made another huge save in the seventh minute of stoppage time to push away Shaun Hutchinson’s fierce header from George Saville’s last-gasp corner.
Rob Edwards’ side kicked off with just a single point from their opening four matches and one win from their last 21 league outings, but their first victory in 12 matches lifted them out of the bottom three ahead of the 15:00 BST kick-offs.
The Hatters carried the greater threat before the break, with Mengi denied an unlikely double by Jensen’s sprawling stop before the centre-half avoided a second yellow card moments later for a strong challenge.
Millwall’s hustling repeatedly rattled Luton into coughing up possession, but they struggled to create an opening, and their threat was further disrupted when Middlesbrough loanee Josh Coburn limped off 32 minutes into his second game.
The Lions also lost defender Jake Cooper to injury and the hosts continued to struggle against a disciplined Luton back four despite plenty of attacking intent.
Liam Walsh fired straight at Jensen as Luton looked to kill off the game, bringing on forward Carlton Morrison for his 100th Hatters appearance.
The visitors almost paid the price as Millwall came on strong late on, but Neil Harris’ side could not avoid slipping to a third league defeat of the season.
Luton manager Rob Edwards:
“In the end, they sort of wore us down and there were a lot of long free-kicks and long throws. It just became a real battle, which was disappointing, to be honest.
“They know it’s important to try and win a game when you’re 1-0 up and it becomes a bit more frantic, and the fans are having a go, and obviously the whole feel and emotion around the place is tense when the win is on the line.
“It is pleasing to do it in the end and we needed our goalkeeper a couple of times, which was disappointing, from the corner and from one of our own giveaways, a couple of brilliant saves from Thomas.
“But when you come here you have to show some character, some fight, which we asked for at the very beginning, and we showed that.
“People had been making out a lot that we hadn’t won for a bit, but the monkey’s off our back now.”
Millwall boss Neil Harris:
“The press was really good, I’m never going to question the application of my players at Millwall and but the application and desire was there. There were some real moments of quality in our team today.
“We mixed up – we knew how to play direct, but we went round the outside and through the thirds and played with some real flair at times.
“I thought our movement was excellent, but the final product was what went missing for us today and that is the difference, unfortunately, at all levels of football, and that was the difference today.
“What I will also add is I was slightly disappointed with the manner of the goal – I thought we could have done more to keep the ball out of our net.
“We gave them the utmost respect, as always when a team comes out of the Premier League, but I thought we were the better team.”
