Swansea manager Steve Cooper is happy to sacrifice style for results after his side boosted their promotion hopes with a battling win at Luton

The visitors, who moved up to second at least temporarily, scored the only goal of the game after just three minutes when Luton failed to defend a long ball over the top for Conor Hourihane to fire home.

Town then had two penalty appeals turned down by referee Darren Bond in either half, one for handball and the other a possible foul on Elijah Adebayo in the area.

Swansea boss Cooper said: “Obviously, we are happy with the three points and the clean sheet.

“It was a really tough game to play in, Luton don’t lose many games here and you throw in the pitch and the wind; it had the makings of not being a pretty game.

“So the result and the three points is the focus and well done to the lads. We scored a good goal, there weren’t many chances in the game.

“It’s hard, pitches are difficult, conditions are difficult, the games are ramping up. So, it takes a lot to win games.

“I am glad we showed quality at the right moment, but in terms of the commitment and attitude – after making five changes, some of which were forced on us – it was brilliant.

“We try to play as we do, it’s easier in some games than others. Luton had a full week of rest and I am not letting any negativity come into the camp from the outside.

“The focus is what the lads are doing, they are working really hard. We have 10 points from the last 12 after losing against Bristol City, where we played really well.

”I will not let anything distract from that, because they are a great group who are giving their all every day to achieve for this football club.”

After Hourihane opened the scoring early on, Luton dominated the rest of the first half, Jordan Clark curling narrowly wide, before Dan Potts’ header was chalked off for offside.

Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s long-range attempt was also repelled by the back-pedalling Freddie Woodman.

Harry Cornick missed a header, while the second period saw Clark fail to connect with Cornick’s cross, while Adebayo sliced wide and had two headers gathered by Woodman.

Luton boss Nathan Jones felt poor decision making from both his players and the officials led to their defeat.

Jones said: “A number of factors, decision-making by both officials and players probably cost us really and that’s the frustrating thing as I thought we were excellent for the majority of the game.

“We were front-footed, we were the better side as far I’m concerned, we had two penalties that should have been penalties, had some clear-cut chances, clear-cut headers, one goal disallowed, probably correctly but it’s marginal, and then so many situations where we should have done better with.

“We kind of let them off the hook as we conceded after three minutes which we pretty much did in the away game which is ironic, then the performance levels I’m very pleased with.

“It was just a counter attack though and we’ve got to defend it better.

“Matty (Pearson) has to see the header whether it’s swirling, Kal (Naismith) has to defend better and we have to make sure that we stop the cut back and don’t let him run off us.

“So much is disappointing, but there are so many positives, it’s just hard to see them, as we’ve just lost the game 1-0.”