Luton had the ball in the net and hit the crossbar, but this was a day for defences and after the 5-0 drubbing by Birmingham seven days earlier debutant Reece Burke and captain Kal Naismith excelled at the heart of the backline.
Even so, after a cagey and stop-start first half – in which the excellent Elijah Adebayo had the only chance, heading over Harry Cornick’s cross – Town were by far the better side.
Fred Onyedinma had the ball in the net just before the hour, but the linesman’s flag was raised. It was tight. Then a few minutes later, as Town laid seige, Cornick hit the woodwork after Adebayo chased down keeper Wes Foderingham and forced him into a mistake when trying to clear. It was a pleasing feature of the target man’s afternoon, who did everything right but score.
Naismith probably should have taken aim when he got in behind but he opted to unselfishly head across the goal to where Allan Campbell hit the side netting, while James Bree sizzled one just wide.
And there was a frustrating absence of advantage played by referee Andy Davies when Adebayo was up-ended but the ball fell into the path of Onyedinma free in the box. In the end, it wasn’t to be, but there were far more positives that not.
“I thought we did enough to win the game but what I’m really pleased with and what shows we have here is just how we bounced back from last week,” said manager Nathan Jones.
“We had to take one (against Birmingham) and the underlying thing is we’re constantly punching above our weight at this level, so now and again we’re going to take one on the nose and it’s about how we react.
“We reacted very well, we bounced back, we don’t often go very long without winning and having defeat after defeat and that shows we have massive amounts of character.
“Today we went toe-to-toe with Sheffield United, one of the favourites for the league, and they’re going to click as they’ve got some fantastic players, but I thought we were excellent from start to finish.
“We did all the basics well, pressed well, denied them, they had one chance in the first minute, but apart from that, very little.
“We had the better chances, scored a goal which is probably onside, then had another opportunity that the ref’s brought back early when Fred’s in, Harry had a great chance, hit the bar, I really thought it was a good performance from us today. I thought we bounced back and I’m proud of the club today.”
Despite a sense that they should have come away with all the spoils, there was plenty to be proud about.
There were solid performances all round, with Gabriel Osho crunching into two crowd-pleasing crunching tackles that got the sort of roar reserved for goals, as he was deployed promisingly in a defensive midfield berth. Jones admitted afterwards that it could be something he looks towards more from a former Reading youngster that arrived at Kenilworth Road last season as a defender.
The front-line of Adebayo, Cornick and Onyedinma never gave United’s defence a moment’s rest, with the former’s hold-up the play the sort of asset that will win him admirers.
But a third clean sheet in five Championship games owed everything to the commanding performances of Luton’s latest centre half pairing.
Naismith showed the character to bounce back from last week’s bad day at the office, while you wouldn’t have known this was Burke’s competitive debut for Luton and his first in the Championship since Hull’s 8-0 drubbing at Wigan on the final day of the 2019/2020 season.
Here, however, he looked everything his new side were missing a week ago, and with club captain Sonny Bradley closer to a return, that’s cause for optimism.
Not specifically about this match, but the latest article on the site, so a convenient place to make a comment.
I see Peter Kioso has ‘chosen’ to go out on a season-long loan to MK Dons. Seems to me that, having apparently been picked out as the scapegoat for the terrible start in the thrashing by Birmingham, his development as a Town player is once more being put on hold. Did his performance at Barnsley count for nothing?
I wonder too – not for the first time – if he’s being sidelined because he wasn’t an NJ signing in the first place.
However it came about, the decision is almost unbelievably short-sighted. I wish the lad luck. He deserves better.
agree glos. at least this one doesn’t disrupt his life as his commute will be good. but it seems nj either doesn’t rate him or doesn’t know what to do with him. personally i think we need specialist right back cover given bree’s injury history and that pearson has moved on. kioso has looked good every time he’s pulled on a luton shirt (or the least bad of the defence when it came to brum). i think he could have had a great season for us.
hopefully he has a great season, proves nj wrong, earns a new contract and does the business next season.
Hello. And Bye.
I’m going to be picky. Sorry. Sure it was a huge improvement on last week. But why settle for a draw on 75 mins against the worst Sheffield United side we’ve played in my life? That felt like 2 points dropped because we will never have a better chance to beat the blades. We were on top. Then Jones does what he sometimes does, leaves the subs too late and makes the wrong ones. Who does Mendes Gomes have to hump to get 15 minutes? Especially after the Admiral’s non display last week? Why Rea for Campbell given area’s performance last week? Sure there was no Jerome or Lansbury. He even warmed up Lockyer before changing to Rea rather than going for a win…
We could have carried on pressing for the win and there would never have been any threat from the blunt blades. Sure we might still have ended up with 0-0 as a worst case. But it wouldn’t have felt like settling.
Well done to Osho and Burke. And to Naismith (who plays better at centre back with a genuine centre back alongside him). And we’ll played Campbell. Best game for us so far. And nice to see Bree make. Few tackles.
But let’s be honest, boring game only livened up by a crook Lino and the lad whose left back career has gone from strength to nothing since leaving us.
More fun after the break please Nathan.