Gideon Kodua fires Luton into the fourth round of the FA Cup - pic: Andy Rowland / PRiME Media Imagesplaceholder image
Gideon Kodua fires Luton into the fourth round of the FA Cup - pic: Andy Rowland / PRiME Media Images
Attacker comes off the bench to fire home in stoppage time
Luton’s FA Cup match-winner Gideon Kodua was happy to reverse manager Jack Wilshere’s previous FA Cup experience of him by scoring in injury time to earn the Hatters a place in round two when beating Forest Green Rovers 4-3 on Friday night.
The 21-year-old first came onto Wilshere’s radar over two years ago, when he captained his parent club West Ham United to a 5-1 success over Arsenal U18s, who were managed by the former Gunners midfielder, in the FA Youth Cup Final, Kodua himself scoring an excellent third goal to earn a result the ex-England star readily admits ‘broke his heart.’
Named on the bench for the Hatters as they took on their National League opponents, Kodua then came on with his side having been pegged back from 3-0 to 3-2, Aidan Dausch soon levelling things up for the visitors to ensure a shock upset was firmly on the cards. During an end-to-end finale it looked like Robbie Savage’s visitors were the team more likely to go through as well, Laurent Mendy heading against the bar and dynamic half time sub Tom Knowles slamming over.
With the game entering six minutes of stoppage time, Town substitute Ali Al-Hamadi then found George Saville who knocked it forward to Kodua. The ball fell to Jerry Yates who threaded the perfectly-judged through ball to his team-mate to blast beyond keeper Fiachra Pagel, expecting a shot across goal, to make it 4-3, although Rovers almost forced extra time, a completely unmarked Dausch slicing badly off target moments later.
Speaking about the goal and putting right those bad memories for his manager, who was managing his first game in the senior competition, Kodua said: “I reversed it, I scored for him and it’s good to get another goal in the FA Cup and keep the momentum going. It was thanks to Jerry as I thought he was going to shoot, but a good finish.
"Knowing that he's backing me whenever I’m on the pitch, that's all you want from a manager. He’s come in and made an impact so you can’t ask for more. He puts his trust in me so I've got to repay him somehow and I think I have done, but it doesn't stop there. He’s focused on the next game (Stockport County away) as well as me. I’ll try to get another goal in the next game and if not, the next game.”
It had looked like Town were making comfortable progress in the tie thanks to Nahki Wells’ double and Lamine Fanne’s second goal in as many games, before three goals in 18 minutes saw the visitors restore parity, before Kodua popped up to seal what is now a second round tie at Fleetwood. On the fixture, the sub felt his side had dropped their intensity when assuming the job had been done, as he continued: “I think we just got complacent as a team which we need to touch up in training and which we will. It’s the FA Cup, every team that comes and plays they’re going to want to show themselves, that’s what they did.
"We played well for the first 60 minutes, then they got momentum. Fair play to the opposition, but we dug deep and came out with the winner. That was the main thing, as we held on in the game. Fair play to them, they came out strong, they got their three goals and they had a lot of the momentum in the second half, but it’s good to get a last minute winner. We want to win, that’s the main thing. We’ve grown as a group together and shown it out on the pitch. We dig deep, we play and we get results as we’ve got to keep pushing and keep the momentum going.”
Having now scored three goals in 15 outings since moving to Luton, initially under previous boss Matt Bloomfield, whom he had played for twice during previous loan spells at Wycombe Wanderers, then asked now what he intends to achieve, with Town having an option to make the transfer of the young Hammer permanent in the summer, Kodua added: “To create a name and legacy for myself, but for the season it’s to mainly just have fun, show my ability and get back into the flow. My aim is to be the best player I can be and that’s playing for the biggest clubs in the world. I’ve just got to keep working at it, training, improving, being the best I can be every single day, which I am.”
Continue Reading