Luton may not get a better chance to prove their survival credentials, but they squandered glorious chances against Middlesbrough to somehow come away with a goalless draw, leaving manager Matt Bloomfield with mixed emotions.
A point against a Boro side that battered them 5-1 earlier in the season, might be a good result in normal circumstances, but the injury-hit visitors arrived without any recognised centre halves, and the Hatters could and should have recovered that goal difference here.
They didn’t and results elsewhere ensured Town’s task to avoid relegation was made harder as their two-point bridge to safety at the start of the day doubled when, before kick-off, there had been hopes of hauling themselves out of the Championship drop zone.
But asked if the Hatters can still escape relegation, an “incredibly” frustrated Bloomfield said confidently: “Yes we can.”
He added: “I understand the situation and all that. I’m a realist, I understand, but I’m also incredibly proud of the performance of the players put into that.
“We created numerous opportunities to win the game. On another day, we take probably two or three or four of them, they were that good.
“The opportunities, some of the football we played, tactically we spoke a lot about how to break our opposition down and the boys implemented it. And I’m so proud of the way they’re going about their work at the moment.”
There’s no question that Town were impressive in the first half. Well, in everything except the thing that matters most – goals.
It is why they are the Championship’s lowest scorers – 34 in 38 games – and, considering how leaky their defence has been this term, their goal-shy shenanigans might be what sends them down.
They’ve now drawn a blank on five occasions at home this term and four have been on Bloomfield’s watch, but though they created a hatful of chances, he simply can’t score the goals for his players.
“To not take one of them is obviously incredibly disappointing and frustrating,” said the manager after seeing the hero in midweek, Thelo Aaasgard, miss two sitters. This is not a midfielder unaccustomed to scoring, as he bagged 12 for Wigan before his January move to Luton, but one was harder to miss from five yards, yet he ballooned over the bar. The other he volleyed straight into the grateful gloves of Mark Travers.
Elijah Adebayo may not get a better opportunity to end his extensive 18-game drought, but a wayward backpass gifted him a one-on-one chance and he too hit gloves instead of net.
That was all just inside the opening 20 minutes, where the Hatters blitzed Boro but came away with nothing to show for it. The keeper’s goal may never be as charmed again.
Middlesbrough offered nothing. Not one shot on target with home stopper Thomas Kaminski a virtual spectator. Luton had 37 touches inside Boro’s box and 19 shots but only five on target, which tells its own story. Mark McGuinness headed wide and Adebayo was denied again by an acrobatic intervention from Samuel Iling-Junior. Lasse Nordås had a shot blocked, while Carlton Morris – excellent in his hold-up play and full of determination – saw Travers paw away his best effort.
But in contrast to Tuesday at Cardiff, Bloomfield’s substitutions did not have the same impact and Luton struggled, in an increasingly desperate finale, to break Boro down.
Bloomfield said: “I’m not going to be negative. Absolutely not. Of course we wanted three points. Of course we did. But there’s no point saying that one [point] isn’t enough right now and there’s eight [games] to play.
“It’s another point on our board. We wanted three. I believe we were going to get three. I absolutely woke up this morning believing that we’re going to get all three. And I think, on the balance of the performance, that was justified faith.
“But of course, we want to win our home games. We haven’t today. So we can be disappointed about that, or we can or we can take the positives and refresh in the international break and come back energised, the other side.”
Goalscoring practice will be high on the agenda after Town’s profligacy was made worse by results elsewhere. Derby and, more frustratingly, Cardiff both won to add more distance between them and Luton.
The gap to safety is now effectively five points, if you account for goal difference. Here, and not for the first time, goals, or lack thereof, was the difference and that will have to change after the international break, or relegation will be the outcome.
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