Substitute Callum McManaman scored a late stunner to steal a point off Preston North End and get manager Nathan Jones’ second spell in charge off to a relieving start.
Hope had been short on the ground until the former Wigan FA Cup winner wrapped his foot around a James Bree pass – in fact, Town had not managed a shot on target.
Indeed, things looked bleak from the 52nd minute, as soon as Martin Cranie got robbed and left in no man’s land by Tom Barkhuizen, with former Celtic ace Sinclair given the freedom of an eerie and empty Kenilworth Road to slot low past Simon Sluga.
Town’s record signing had kept them on terms in the first period, which, after a bright start from the hosts, was as unspectacular a 105-day break promised it might be.
Twice Sean Maguire went close, the second time, required the Croatian keeper to race of his line and smother.
Declan Rudd, in the Preston goal, had far less to do as his side coped comfortably with a Hatters side all too often opting to go long, with Harry Cornick and James Collins left to chase lost causes.
In normal times, Sinclair’s goal would’ve sparked almost 40 minutes of cacophonous noise from the Kenilworth Road crowd, roaring their side into physical feats than they could not muster themselves, particularly after so long without action.
The pumped-in crowd noise didn’t do the trick, even if the volume was optimistically raised on the rare occasions the hosts breached North End’s defensive third.
In short, Luton needed a miracle – and they got one.
Twelve minutes after he’d entered the fray, as one of five eventual subs, now permitted, McManaman bagged his fourth goal for the club and, though he’s made a habit of netting late on, that was the best of the lot.
In his first spell at Luton, boss Jones renamed his substitutes ‘game-changers’, but the manner, timing and circumstances of McManaman’s intervention, could very well prove season-changing.
