James Collins bagged a 91st minute penalty to steal a point in a relegation six-pointer against Stoke to cling on to hopes of a great escape and lift a Championship contest out football purgatory.
Sideways, backwards, sideways, backwards. Repeat until comatose out of sheer boredom, that was the drawn-out prologue to a relief-riddled finale, one you’d pay good money to be hypnotised into amnesia.
Luton were supposed to be fighting for the lives, instead they suffocated in their own energy-sapped ordinariness – the almost inevitable product of the now infamous third game in a week.
Yet, Izzy Brown was the only new face, replacing an injured Luke Berry, and half-fit, according to boss Graeme Jones, he could do nothing to spark even the slightest slice of quality.
It was a sense the soaked through the side as Stoke City scored early – Sam Vokes turning in Tommy Smith’s shot on nine minutes – and then sat, in total comfort as, Town tapped it pointlessly in front of them.
After such a rousing midweek win, in a Brentford clash few predicted a victory, this was the polar opposite. As much as the Potters parked the bus, Town struggled with the basics, which quickly curtailed grandiose notions such as cutting through City’s lines.
Luton goalkeeper Simon Sluga was named man of the match, which tells its own story, as the Croatian stuck out a big boot to deny Tom Ince soon after the opener, but then had precious little else to do. Neither keeper did.
The afternoon dragged on and it seemed for all the world that the Hatters would end a week full of hope-induced whimsy, looking over their shoulders at an ever-widening Championship trap door.
Five points is still the gap (six if you take goal difference into account), but as the clock ticked into the final minute, six felt like a chasm of insurmountable scale, especially after Harry Cornick had a goal ruled out for offside.
Then substitute Callum McManaman burst into the box and gladly took the contact from James Chester, with referee Andy Woolmer pointing to the spot.
Collins sent Jack Butland the wrong way for his 11th of the season and the relief was palpable.
Never mind the great escape. This was grand larceny. Hopefully one the Hatters won’t go down for.
