As far as faultless performances go, that was certainly up there. If only the same could be said about the officials.
Nigel Pearson's sensational post-match comments regarding the state of the referring in the EFL will take the majority of the headlines and rightly so as he calls out their incompetence yet again.
However, his opinion threatens to steal the limelight on one of the most complete performances his side have shown for a long, long time. Three crucial points are on the board at a hugely important time and Pearson was rewarded with a team selection that included two changes including starting the exceptional Nahki Wells in attack.
Luton looked a shadow of the side that competed in the play-offs last season and defensively they were all over the place in the first half. Although take nothing away from the quality of City's play, especially in central midfield.
All areas of the pitch deserve credit including the defence that stood firm to the dangers of Cauley Woodrow, Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo. Kal Naismith was superb against his former club and Zak Vyner deserves a shout out for playing his part in the victory.
Here's the verdict as City make it three unbeaten in all competitions.
A winning combo
The Alex Scott and Han-Noah Massengo combination has not been a regular sighting in the middle of the park but there was a sense of intrigue to see how they would compliment each other. That is fuelled by their age and relative lack of experience, their undoubted talent and the uncertainty of where they will end up in their remarkably bright futures.
Initially, when their names were announced on the team sheet there was the danger that they could be outmuscled by a Luton side who based their success last season on being physical to play against.
However, it soon became apparent they would be up for the challenge. The pair were unplayable in the first half especially, their ability to keep the ball and pick out passes to the front men caused the visitors all kinds of issues in the midfield.
Their quality on the ball provided the opportunity to play forward passes as they picked out the movement of Nahki Wells and Tommy Conway as Luton struggled to contain the front pair throughout the contest.
Massengo in particular has been guilty at times this season of taking a touch too many and running into dead ends but last night he kept the play simple. His darting runs through the midfield had the midfielders facing their own goal and it forced Nathan Jones to make a triple substitution at half-time.
A dynamic duo, they could feed off each other's quality and dictate play which proved important in the second half. In previous matches, City have dominated the opening 45 minutes but have been on the back foot in the second half, although Scott and Massengo had that maturity to ensure the hosts could maintain that level of performance.
Both players had key roles in the goals. Scott's brilliant through ball to Wells got City on their way before Massengo's delicate pass with the outside of the boot freed Weimann on the left who then squared it into the path of Conway to double City's lead.
After the game, Pearson said of them: "They did well to say how young they are and inexperienced, but what you lack with experience in the modern game is energy and ability to play at a high tempo in possession but out of possession too it’s the signature of the modern game their ability to play quickly and aggressively together was evident tonight.”
It's just a shame their partnership in a City shirt through the middle will be few and far between going forward.
Nigel Pearson hints at job pressure
Nigel Pearson's comments to Sky Sports regarding his thoughts about quitting football over the standard of refereeing were remarkable in itself.
Once again, City were on the receiving end of another poor decision when Rob Atkinson's penalty appeals were turned away in the second half. We're only four league matches into the season and there's been a handful of dodgy decisions including the penalty shambles at Hull before another questionable one at Wigan. Pearson managed to remain reasonably calm on the surface of things in his post-match interview on that occasion.
But it's clear his blood has been boiling regarding the standard of officiating and he let rip in his interview with Sky Sports after the game by saying: "In the modern game, I’ve got no complaints about Sykesy but what I do have a complaint about is the way their player wasn’t dealt with in the same way.
"I’ve got to be honest with you, I thought about it last year, and I’ve thought about it again this year and that is basically to pack up being involved in the sport.
“And that is not because of how shallow the modern game is and how some of the aspects of the modern game irritate me but the standard of officiating, as far as I’m concerned, is at an all-time low.
“They’re consistently poor. I’ll probably get in trouble again for saying what I think but somebody has to say it - I’m sick to death about people like me who have jobs that are in jeopardy. It’s alright if we play badly every week, I can take losing my job because of that... but, for me, it’s just a worry for the game.”
The comment about Pearson considering retirement was stark in itself but reading between the lines, there's another standout statement.
The sentence: "I'm sick to death about people like me who have jobs that are in jeopardy. It’s alright if we play badly every week, I can take losing my job because of that..."
Perhaps we're reading too much into the situation but as journalists, it is our prerogative. Did Pearson suggest his job is in jeopardy? The decisions have played a big part in City's results thus far but there was obviously pressure heading into the game against Luton have picked up one point from their opening three matches.
The three points and performance last night were vitally important heading into the home game against Cardiff but coming off the back of last season, where Jon Lansdown openly admitted the club had underperformed during an interview, it only makes you wonder.
Sensational Wells
Last night was Nahki Wells' opportunity to stake his claim in Pearson's side. Following Chris Martin's ineffectual showing against Wigan at the weekend, the striker was given the nod to partner the in-form Tommy Conway in attack.
It took him five minutes to repay the manager's faith when he latched onto Scott's through ball before opening his body up and slotting his strike in the bottom right corner of the net. You could see what it meant to him in his celebration afterwards, a mixture of relief and joy.
It set the tone for the evening and Wells' movement alongside Conway left the Luton defenders chasing shadows for large periods. Whether the decision by Pearson to start Wells was to hand Martin a rest or exploit the weaknesses in Luton's defence, it left opposing manager Jones searching for answers.
In his post-match interview after the games, Jones admitted he expected Conway to start with Martin. While the veteran striker offers a completely different dynamic going forward, Wells' mobility seems to catch the defence by surprise and it's a welcome weapon that perhaps should be utilised more going forward to leave their opponents guessing.
Pearson was asked on his thinking about starting Wells after the game in which he responded: “It’s important to have the policy that people always have the chance of getting a game and as I've already explained with having Tommy, Nak and Andi in the line-up there’s a lot of energy to run which as a defender you don’t like doing.
"The one down the side of you or the one behind you is the one you don’t really want to do. So, there are games where we need a more physical presence, there are games where you need more agility and mobility and there’s games where you need a mixture of both."
Wells was also effective with his back to goal and being able to hold up play, giving the opportunity for the likes of Weimann to break forward. His performance was a statement and one which will give the manager plenty of thinking ahead of next Sunday's game with Cardiff.
A benchmark set
It was interesting hearing Nathan Jones speaking after the full-time whistle, obviously irate with how his side performed. However, he seemed most disappointed with how his side failed to match City's energy and desire both on and off the ball.
He admitted City wanted it more than his players saying his side had been "out-Luton'd" by Pearson's team. He said: "We got outbattled, outfought, outran, out-Luton'd, because that's what we do to teams, that's how we are built.
"Bristol City were good first half but we allowed them to be good. We were nowhere near the energy levels."
That energy and resilience is exactly what Pearson has been crying out for in his side. It's not that his players don't give 100 per cent each game, but they have struggled to do it on a consistent basis.
The City manager has been clear in his views that his team have, by and large, performed well throughout the start of the season despite picking up just one point in the opening three matches while the results have come down to poor decisions by officials and individual errors.
Tonight (except for the decisions) everything came together. The passing was slick, Luton couldn't deal with the tempo of City's play, the defensive resilience was on show and the game management was spot on, especially after the Robins went down to 10 men.
It's all in time to face Cardiff and City will need another performance like that against Steve Morison's men on Sunday.
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