James Collins has had better afternoons in a Luton shirt as the stand-in skipper had a legitimate goal chalked off and saw two errors punished by Charlton striker Lyle Taylor, as the great escape was cast, once more, into doubt.
With the score at 1-1 after Harry Cornick had quickly cancelled out the Addicks’ opener, the Hatters goalscorer saw a shot-cum-cross turned in by Town’s top marksman only to see the linesman’s flag raised as the ball hit the net.
It was a big call. It was a wrong call, made even worse by the fact this all happened on the six-yard line. It’s a poor man’s VAR, but something a Premier League linesman should be able to use.
But things got worse on 61 minutes as Collins then stuck out a hand to block a George Lapslie shot and referee Andre Marriner pointed to the spot, from where Taylor sent Simon Sluga the wrong way.
Any hope of a deserved point for Town was then dashed as Lapslie converted Macauley Bonne’s cutback.
Once again, however, they got nothing and slipped back to the bottom of the Championship, six points adrift of safety.
The afternoon started with air of concern, when the team sheet showed omissions of influential playmakers Izzy Brown (ill), Kazenga LuaLua and captain Sonny Bradley (both injured).
Taking the armband, while Collins put in his usual full-bloodied performance, exemplifying his side’s fight and desire, but after Town survived Naby Sarr’s rocket cracking the crossbar, he gave the ball away and Taylor punished the error with an explosive finish.
Luton responded in lightning fashion drawing level through Cornick two minutes later, an unerring side-foot conversion.
It was tight and tense and Town should’ve fallen behind early in the second half, but Andre Green conspired to miss from five yards out after Taylor had put it on a plate for his strike partner.
After that let-off, came the crucial moment as the Hatters suffered at the hands of poor officiating. It felt like everything was against Luton, but if things can get undeservedly worse, they often tend to.
Collins was penalised, and Taylor, somewhat a bogeyman for Town, stepped up to score from the spot, as he did in this fixture last term.
And to mirror that League One outcome, Lapslie made the scoreline 3-1 to dish out Town’s first defeat in three games and a very hard one to swallow.
