Luton’s great escape hopes were dealt a potentially deathly blow as they lost to ten-man Blackburn to hand Rovers their first ever league win at Kenilworth Road.
With four games remaining, it leaves them three points adrift of Derby and safety, with a trip to the Rams up next on Good Friday. So, while this result hasn’t confirm Town’s fate, the next could, all bar the shouting.
Yet, despite a six-game unbeaten resurgence in the last five weeks that offered hope of Championship survival, this was a return to a lacklustre Luton, full of endeavour, but not quality.
Blackburn offered little as well, but when it counted Yuki Ohashi’s 52nd minute goal – one of four Rovers shots – proved to be enough.
Even when his team-mate Kristi Montgomery was dismissed for a second bookable offence just before the hour mark, toothless Town could not make their advantage count.
They tried, but just three of the host’s 18 shots tamely found the target. Late on, Thelo Aasgaard and Milli Alli agonisngly hit the crossbar, otherwise accuracy in shooting and passing was in short supply. Both were frustrating.
“[I’m] really bitterly disappointed and frustrated,” said boss Matt Bloomfield. “Not the performance or the result that we wanted. We weren’t at our usual levels of what we’ve been recently. We’ve been on a good run, and we’ve all spoken about that, but today wasn’t that and we’re bitterly disappointed with that.
“I felt it quite early on in the game. I felt like we just weren’t quite the same intensity that we’ve been at recently. So we’ll have to go and look at that and try and figure out the reasons why.
“It’s the same group of players that have been going game after game. So maybe that’s a contributing factor. And, maybe we need to consider that. But, you know, it’s really bitterly disappointing because we’re in a good spot. and, that’s not the performance that we want, wanted or needed today.”
Perhaps it is the curse of the three-game week. The Hatters have managed just two draws all season in the final match of a seven-day sequence, and one of those, against Middlesbrough, was a similar outcome. Then they should’ve had three points, but came away with just one.
That was probably the fairest outcome against Blackburn, but defeat has left Luton with a mountain to climb in their fight to stay in the Championship and the boos from fans at the final whistle revealed how likely many Hatters think that is.
Bloomfield said: “It’s understandable. Our supporters are frustrated and I absolutely understand that.”
Asked if he’s still positive Town can beat the drop, the manager said: “Yeah, 100 per cent. We are fighting. We’ve been fighting and scrapping. We had a little unbeaten run where we picked up some good results and we have to dig deep and go again.”
But if the Hatters do slip through the trap door, while Rovers’ results among the relegation pack will have played a part – they’d coughed up three points to the Hatters’ relegation rivals Derby, Stoke, Cardiff and Portsmouth in the last month – more significantly will be the struggles to find the net of the league’s lowest scorers.
With five minutes of time remaining, skipper Carlton Morris – without a goal since December 29 – was withdrawn for Zack Nelson, but nothing worked, which was highlighted in the nine minutes of time added on. In truth, it could have been another 90 and the outcome may still have been shot after desperate shot slashed high or wide.
All this against a depleted Rovers side who handed Montgomery his full debut in his second ever appearance, two weeks after he’d been playing for Chorely in the National League North. But the 20-year-old’s early bath was of no consequence for the visitors and that was perhaps part of the reason for those boos from the terraces, though there have been many other triggers this troublesome term.
To avoid the bullet, there is scarcely any wiggle room left, but Bloomfield said: “We’ve come back from disappointing results and built ourselves up again. We’ve done that. We came back from Burnley and went and won at Cardiff and we can do so again. I believe in the group, I believe in the work we’re doing, and we have to take it on the chin, come back and fight.”
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