Luton came from 2-0 down to earn a late point at home to Championship play-off rivals Millwall last night to stay in the race for the top six. Here are our takeaways from another eventful night under the lights at Kenilworth Road.
Reffing hell! (Part 1,431)
It’s official! We’re now beyond the bottom of the barrel. We’ve smashed through it and what lies beneath is a bog of eternal ineptitude, a swamp of serial shoddiness and blind-as-a-bat decisions that are an insult to the flying critters.
Week after week, game after game, the refs are getting worse. There’s an FA Respect campaign that says of officials ‘They give their time and yet face negative attention and abuse in almost every match. Enough is enough.’ Quite right. Abuse is not wanted or needed… but pointing out the obvious realities is simply that. Saying what your eyes can see.
Last night, the chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” aimed at Geoff Eltringham can be filed neatly in a folder marked Facts.
There’s precious few ways to satisfactorily explain away how the man in the middle could miss two penalty claims, while his assistant missed George Honeyman in an offside position as he set up Tom Bradshaw for Millwall’s second.
In the interests of balance they did combine to rule out a third Lions goal, but Luton are still in a deficit due to the other missed calls.
Bad decisions do not even themselves out
I’m not convinced that there’s anything in the old cliche when discussing bad decisions, that ‘these things tend to even themselves out over the course of the season’. In fact, we don’t have to rely on opinion and feelings because the University of Bath devised and created a study, called the Luck Index, which looked at how refereeing decisions impacted the 2017-18 season. To cut a long story short, the old cliche is way off the mark.
And in this 2022/23 Championship season, Luton have been on the wrong end of too many bad decisions.
But, protest, as Town players did last week when Burnley were awarded a penalty, and not only was Tom Lockyer sent off for dissent, but the club was subsequently charged for failing to control their players. Did Hatters players chase referee Jeremy Simpson around the pitch, down the tunnel and out of Dodge? No. Did they assault him? No, supposedly ‘surrounded a match official’. Heaven forfend! Even the video evidence paints a far more serene picture.
If genuine PG-rated player protest is reprimanded after the fact, then it’s a slippery slope. We perhaps shouldn’t be surprised when the game’s authorities do their utmost to outlaw any real emotions, when a simple goalscoring celebration can be punished. I mean, what on earth are we doing?
If the actions of Luton players were that serious, then referee Mr Simpson could have simply dealt with the matter by dishing out more reds and yellows. He didn’t.
But I digress. Against Millwall, it was Eltringham’s time to shine, which he did by upping the ante on the series of bizarre decisions he’d made in the 1-0 win over Cardiff in January. It’s not good enough.
Goalie gaffes!
The Rob Edwards era is going quite well, wouldn’t you agree? But it’s still a work in progress. Much of that has seen Luton develop into a fine footballing force, between the boxes.
You’d be hard-pushed to make the argument that Town are struggling at the back when they’ve just gone seven league games without conceding a goal from open play.
But there is a case to say that that record should still be rolling. See above for the offside decision not spotted for Millwall’s second goal. It was one of only three shots on target, the first of which was brought about an absolute howler from Ethan Horvath.
Hopefully, Luke Berry’s late leveller got the American out of jail somewhat and he has racked up an impressive 13 clean sheets, but errors have bookended that seven-game shut-out spell.
A tepid and misjudged burst out of his box against West Bromwich Albion saw his countryman Daryl Dike kick-start the Baggies’ impressive comeback from 2-0 down to claim victory.
There was, of course, that gaffe against Watford, though the game had already been lost by then.
All this is to highlight that in matches and a campaign of fine margins, where a play-off place is achievable for virtually half of the Championship, the errors add up to something potentially significant. With new signing Jack Walton and old faithful James Shea back to fitness, no-one could argue if this game sparked a spell on the sidelines for Horvath. After all, it did former Town keeper Simon Sluga the world of good.
Simply the Bez
What a servant Luke Berry has been for Luton Town. Give him a sniff and he will score. Let’s just hope he gets more of a chance to show that this season.
It’s understandable why the midfielder has had to make do with time on the sidelines with the pairing of Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Jordan Clark performing so outstandingly well this term.
But if you need a goal, as Town did against Millwall, then Berry’s your man. He’s bagged three in 12 league outings and the last two have come late on to rescue a point at Kenilworth Road. He’s managed that despite coming off the bench in all but one of those appearances, while he didn’t complete the game in the other. He’s totalled just 257 minutes.
While Clark has been a revelation this season, he’s notched just twice in 32 league appearances (three in total). Pelly, likewise, but he’s only recently notched his first of the campaign in 21 Championship games.
And while we’re on the subject of pleasing Berry stats, when the midfielder scores Luton have never lost. That’s got to be worth a more regular roll of Rob Edwards’ dice.
Big moments, bold decisions
But give Edwards credit for putting Berry on in the first place. Gabriel Osho, penalty decisions aside, has been in fine form of late, but when the centre half limped off after 72 minutes, the temptation must have been to replace him with club captain Sonny Bradley, who made the match-day squad for the first time since his nasty injury on November 1.
Instead, the boss gave Berry the nod and the midfielder repaid him with a cold-as-ice strike to get Luton the point they at least deserved.
It’s not the first time Edwards has gambled positively and it’s to be applauded, particularly as he’s engineered an even more front-footed style of play since his arrival. His decisions certainly reflect that ethos.
