Graeme Jones had nothing but praise for Luton’s record signing, Simon Sluga after he recovered from a calamity to keep Middlesbrough at bay and give his side the chance to claim a memorable opening night point.
Sonny Bradley’s screaming first ever goal for the club and Martin Cranie’s header overturned the early Ashley Fletcher header, but with the Hatters in the ascendancy, the goalkeeper let a Britt Assombalonga trickler through his fingers.
But the Croatian international, who’d made a world-class top corner save moments before that error on his competitive English debut, pulled off a string of stops in the second half to keep his new side in the contest.
Jones said: “I thought he was excellent apart from one moment. He just didn’t move his feet and get down. Life as a goalkeeper, huh? I don’t know anything about it. I was delighted with him it was obviously just that one moment that I’m sure that, as a Croatian international, he’ll be big enough and bold enough to get over it and move forward.”
Sluga could do nothing about a stunner from Lewis Wing, which made it 3-2 to Boro, but he stopped everything else and his interventions, along with a penalty miss from Assombalonga, proved a turning point.
Town pressed and James Collins claimed an 85th minute equaliser to make it 3-3 for a share of the spoils.
Before that late leveller, the Luton fans were singing Slug’s name, in recognition of his efforts and Jones said: “It’s always a two-way thing with the crowd and players. He made a great save before the mistake in his top right-hand corner. I’ve got no doubts about Simon Sluga.
“Can you imagine us now going to Croatia and trying to adapt to their style of play and their language in two-and-a-half weeks? Overall, I thought his performance was excellent.”
