If Luton do swerve the Championship trap door, then a well-deserved point against promotion-chasing Leeds could be a huge result to add to their recent resurgence. One of the catalysts? Christ Makosso.
Isaiah Jones scored his first goal for Luton to put the hosts ahead, but it was the giant centre half, that late on, ensured Town extended their blossoming form into a fourth game unbeaten. Make no mistake, the Luton Town of a few months ago might have lost this game. Today they didn’t deserve to. Rewards at last.
“It’s a performance to be proud of. A club to be proud of,” said manager Matt Bloomfield, adding: “The supporters were incredible, backing the boys, roaring them on, really responding to the effort that lads are putting in
“We knew that the quality that Leeds have in possession, we were going to have to be disciplined and structured, but we pressed at the appropriate moments. Yeah a performance to be proud of.”
While praise of Makosso might suggest that Leeds were rampant, that was not the case. The Hatters gave as good as they got, perhaps even slightly more at times, but Leeds had the best chances and, at the death, Manor Soloman squandered their best, a virtual sitter that he slashed wide.
The defender then recovered a nerve-shredding moment to deny Isaac Schmidt deep into eight minutes of added time.
With the danger cleared, Makosso hauled himself off the Kenilworth Road turf to a rapturous reception and he raised his hands in appreciation. Though Sky Sports handed the man of the match gong to the impressive Thelo Aasgaard, who had Town’s best chance of the second half, which was saved by Karl Darlow, it was the Congolese who did not put a foot wrong.
Makosso has been a colossus in Luton’s recent revival, alongside a similarly resilient Mark McGuinness. His debut saw him thrown on to stop the rot against Watford and, aside from the write-off of playing with ten men for most of the match against Burnley – who rose above Leeds today to the top of the league – he has not lost a game of football.
“He’s been fantastic since he’s come into the team,” Bloomfield said of Makosso, adding: “The agility and pace that he gives us in defensive moments allows us to send our wing backs high to press, which is the way we want to play.
“He’s obviously a young player and still learning. There’s still lots of his game that we need to tidy up, with him, and he’s working extremely hard. I think he’s really giving us some big performances at the minute.”
Of course, the 20-year-old alone was not responsible for keeping Leeds at arm’s length, but something has changed since he was introduced into the team and the belief is spreading.
Even when Dan James equalised with a top drawer curler just before the half hour mark, Luton did not cave in. That Town trait seems to have been exorcised. Still, Leeds had their chances and Thomas Kaminski pulled off a couple of saves – one an exceptional, instinctive stop to deny Junior Firpo – but rarely did the Whites carve open the Hatters.
In contrast Jones’ opener, 15 minutes in, was a sweeping Town team move. Liam Walsh – again impressive in the middle of the park – won the ball back on his own 18-yard line, fed Elijah Adebayo and the forward marauded into enemy territory in the kind of determined run that echoed his assist for the play-off final goal two years ago. He’d later limp off with a knee injury but in that early first half moment, he again found Jordan Clark, only this time the midfielder dug out a cross to the unmarked Jones to volley in at the back stick. The net bulged, Kenilworth Road shook and the belief carried on throughout, even despite James’ dampener.
“[It’s] a great move for the goal,” said Bloomfield, adding: “I thought Eli was fantastic, carrying us up the pitch. Clicker’s got a bit of quality and Izzy’s where we want him to be to tap in at the back post.
“Leeds started particularly well and we had to sort of weather that a little bit, I would suggest. But, in the main, we have to be really pleased with our performance.”
Having capitulated so meekly at Elland Road in November, this was a Town performance that was the complete antithesis – full of fight, full of heart and full of desire.
While the point wasn’t enough to lift Luton out of the bottom three, it has, just as it did in the Great Escape of 2020 – which included a 1-1 draw against Leeds – maintained that almost intangible thing that could prove all important in the final shake-up – momentum.
Bloomfield said: “It’s a point in our total. We’ve still got a lot of work ahead. You know, we’ve got six games and lots more points that we need. We understand that and we have to be relentless in it. But it’s a point that keeps our momentum going.”
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