Luton Town fans have been here before. When the odds have been stacked, when relegation seemed almost certain, this club has somehow found a way to claw its way back from the brink. Now, on the final day of the Championship season, Matt Bloomfield and his squad have the chance to write the next chapter in the club’s survival sagas.
Victory at West Bromwich Albion will ensure Luton’s Championship status for another season. A draw might also be enough, depending on results elsewhere involving Hull City, Derby County, Stoke City and Preston North End. There could even be a succesful outcome if Luton lose and Hull do too at Portsmouth.
But for Bloomfield, the task is clear: “We have to make sure we aim for the performance. And if we do that, we believe that we can get the result we need.”
He added: “Without us doing our job, there’s no point just sitting there and hoping to influence things elsewhere when we have no control over that.”
It echoes the famous last-day heroics of 1983, 1990 and 1991, where the Hatters pulled off what became known as Great Escapes. The scenes of David Pleat leaping across Manchester City’s former Main Road stadium in the 80s, Tim Breaker’s rocket at Derby’s old Baseball Ground home and then the infamous Mick Harford own goal while playing for Derby County the following year are all part of Luton folklore. Town managed to survive on the final day of 1993 as well, though they lost 2-1 to Southend United, but results went their way to keep them in the second tier and spare them a second successive relegation having dropped out of the top flight the year before, missing out on the inaugural Premier League season.
More recently, in 2020 during the Covid-hit season, Luton again beat the odds, surviving on the final day with a 3–2 win over Blackburn Rovers behind closed doors under Nathan Jones. That escape, sealed in an empty Kenilworth Road, showed that even without the roar of thousands of Hatters, this club refuses to back down.
But Bloomfield, determined not to be caught up in nostalgia or sentiment, is focusing squarely on the present. “I’m trying not to look at too much else apart from just the job in hand,” he said. “I just have to focus on us performing well, making sure the boys are ready to go.”
Yet it’s hard for supporters not to feel the pull of history. This is a club that thrives on defiance, and the current squad appears to have finally embraced that identity. The turnaround in form has been remarkable — 21 points in 11 games, with six wins and three draws. Extrapolated over the course of a 46-game season, that be enough for at least a play-off place in most Championship seasons.
That, of course is where Luton had hoped to be when predictions were made at the start of the season. That dream, for this season, died some time ago, but last week’s 1-0 victory over Coventry saw Town rise above the dreaded relegation zone for the first time since Bloomfield took over in January. That improvements in the last two months have not only given Luton hope, it’s given them belief.
“We really want to complete the job tomorrow,” the Town boss said, adding: “I’m relishing the position, the opportunity to do so.”
More than 2,500 Luton fans will make the trip to The Hawthorns tomorrow, aiming to turn a corner of the stadium into a sea of orange. The club has put on coaches, supporters have responded in kind, and survival is tantalisingly within reach.
“It comes down to one final game,” Bloomfield said. “I think most of us thought this was going to be the case. You’ve just got to go and do it now.”
Doing it at The Hawthorns won’t be easy. Luton haven’t won there since 1996 and West Brom are a club with pedigree and experience, even if their form has wobbled in recent weeks and they’re now without a permanent manager after Tony Mobraw was recently sacked. But Bloomfield, ever consistent, refuses to be distracted by the opposition: “I have to just focus on us.”
This has been his mantra throughout the club’s recent resurgence. The turnaround, he says, has been about belief, resilience, and clarity. It has also been about physical improvement: “Two games in a row now we’ve outrun our opposition for the first time since I’ve been here,” he noted. “We’re starting to get towards a fitter group.”
For a team that was staring down the barrel over a second successive relegation, only two months ago, simply having the chance to control their own destiny on the final day is a feat in itself. One more game, one more escape? It wouldn’t be the first time Luton Town defied the odds.
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