Stoke are often held in low esteem by football cliche for the uglier side of the game and Luton’s limp defeat against the Potters might not have taken place on a cold Tuesday night, as is the usual platitude, but it will do little to endear the Potters to the purists.
They won’t care, and nor should they, but Luton just have no answer for their shithousing, time-wasting, gamesmanship and cynicism. That’s not just in this Championship encounter, but the last three, where Town have failed to scored against the Potters, with boss Nathan Jones’ old club seemingly in possession of an Indian sign against their former manager.
From looking so potent against Middlesbrough in midweek, they were toothless here.
Jones said: “There was not really much happening in the game and then they showed one bit of quality. We went to sleep and it was a poor goal to give away from our point of view.
“I thought we were more front-footed in the second half. We had the situations to have done more and then we just lacked the quality in the final third.”
And because of that, as soon as Jacob Brown poked in from close range on 34 minutes, the tone and the outcome of this latest slump against Stoke was set.
The fact that it was virtually a carbon copy of the goal they’d conceded against Boro on Tuesday, was just one of the frustrations, with Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu not covering himself in glory for Romaine Sawyers’ assist.
Jones said: “I’m super frustrated with it, because it came out of nothing, absolutely nothing. There wasn’t any sustained pressure, or us having to defend this and that, there wasn’t.
“It was an even game, we probably had slightly more possession, but we didn’t really do much with it. They weren’t doing much with it and it (the goal) just came out of nothing, but that’s the Championship.”
At times, City looked like they had more players on the pitch, which meant the Hatters hoofed and hoofed. And against 6ft 6ins centre back Harry Souttar and the rest of the green giants at the back it was a pointless pursuit.
City, who were no great shakes themselves, knew they had to do little else but spoil, as soon as they got their noses in front.
When Town did get a chance to cross or thread a ball through they invariably wasted the opportunity, much to the exasperation of Kenilworth Road.
Substitutes Fred Onyedinma and Admiral Muskwe did combine for the Hatters’ only moment of quality, but the latter slammed a point blank header against the bar. So close, yet so far to a first goal in the Championship for the forward, but those were the margins for Town.
Jones said: “We’ve pushed them right to the end, penned them in and probably, on the whole, deserved something from the game. That wasn’t the case this time last year. They beat us comfortably twice and breezed the game. Today that’s not the case.
“They’re holding on looking to time-waste and see the game out, so that shows how far we’ve come. That’s all we can affect.”
Yet, ultimately, for those perceived gains, Luton played right into Stoke’s hands and it was a sobering and soulless slow-death experience.
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