Depleted Luton moved up to third in the Sky Bet Championship with a disciplined 3-1 victory at Hull.
Despite being without their core defensive line through injury, Nathan Jones’ side produced an exemplary performance.
Elijah Adebayo opened the scoring after nine minutes – a just reward for an intense start to the game.
Harry Cornick added a second on 56 minutes, with Luton’s authority underscored by James Bree’s smart free-kick later in the second half.
Hull have been impressive away from home under new manager Shota Arveladze but they have now lost five games on the bounce at the MKM Stadium.
And though Tom Eaves scored a consolation with the last kick of the game, the hosts deserved nothing as Luton were more streetwise in possession and far sharper inside the final third.
Jones had compared Luton’s treatment room to the Bermuda Triangle – in that “anyone who goes in there doesn’t come out” – but his players looked very much at home in East Yorkshire.
Luton clearly had a plan to intensely pressure the right of Hull’s defence from the outset.
It was as swift as it was effective, too, with Cornick a persistent threat during a one-sided start to the game.
Few inside the MKM Stadium could have been too surprised, then, when Adebayo opened the scoring.
He was allowed too much space to charge into the penalty box from the right and Hull’s defence stood off the in-form striker, who had time and space in a dangerous area.
Matt Ingram might, however, have done better as Adebayo’s left-footed hit went through the goalkeeper.
Luton’s opening goal failed to shift the flow of momentum of the first half.
Ingram did well to tip over Luke Berry’s powerful attempt from distance on 21 minutes as Jones’ men remained a constant threat on the break.
Hull had their moments thereafter, but Luton goalkeeper James Shea never once had to break sweat.
And once Cornick doubled Town’s lead, firing in from Adebayo’s pass, even the most optimistic of Hull fans must have expected the worst.
Keen admirers of Luton this season have been particularly impressed by their energy and vigour.
This was further highlighted after 72 minutes when, following a sustained spell of pressure, Bree scored a well-taken free-kick with a fierce swing that crashed in off the post.
Eaves was Hull’s best player and deserved to score with a tap-in deep into injury-time, but it failed to conceal the Tigers’ flaws on home soil as Luton cruised to victory.
