Chants of “sign him up,” “he’s one of our own” and “we want you to stay” rang around Kenilworth Road after red-hot Kasey Palmer’s fourth goal in three games propelled Luton into a final day nail-biter that will decide their fate this season.
The Hull City loan ace has been a revelation in a Hatters shirt. His magic moments this month alone have been the difference between a campaign that might have fizzled out and now a real chance at sneaking into the League One play-offs.
That’s not to overlook Luton’s 11-game unbeaten streak, but Palmer has been the focal point.
Reaching the play-offs is still not in the Hatters hands, but there are currently three teams they can catch on the final day. If Town can beat third-placed Bolton and Stevenage, Bradford and, depending on their midweek result, Stockport drop points on the final day, then their promotion dream will live on into May.
Boss Jack Wilshere said: “At this stage of the season it’s about winning and I had that feeling we were going to find something as I think the team’s really developed that.
“We want to still play well and still perform because we believe that’s the best way of winning a game and we’ve done that really well recently, but I didn’t think we found our rhythm.
“We threatened at times, but couldn’t quite keep our foot on the gas with that and I always felt that if we can suffer in those moments where they’re putting us under pressure, then we defended really well.
“More importantly I felt like the players believe that we can still find something from somewhere when you’ve got quality on the pitch and we certainly did that.”
This wasn’t a vintage Luton performance, against a competitive Barnsley side, but at this stage of the season only results matter – and the Hatters keep racking them up.
Nahki Wells provided early hope, converting from the penalty spot after Hakeem Odoffin had been clattered by one time Town target Luca Connell. The striker then missed a sitter.
But another of Luton’s transfer targets, Adam Phillips, levelled despite a stunning save from Josh Keeley, when he headed in after the keeper had acrobatically pushed away Reyes Cleary’s shot.
And in a second half where the Tykes just about dominated the ball, there were precious few chances. Town survived a nervy penalty shout when Phillips beat Keeley and Odoffin collided with him. Referee Harry Wager was uninterested and that was as close as the visitors came to scoring again.
A triple substitution on 64 minutes saw Devante Cole, Gideon Kodua and Jake Richards come on for Davy van den Berg, Wells and the excellent Emilio Lawrence. That was initially unpopular among the Hatters faithful, but the changes saw Town take a hold of the game.
And after a series of corners, they finally made one pay in the 7th minute. Former Barnsley skipper Mads Andersen – back in the starting line-up – headed back across goal and Palmer stroked into the roof of the net.
That was the Jamaican international’s eighth goal of a remarkable four-month spell with the Hatters.
He was withdrawn four minutes from time to a standing ovation, in which the fans made it abundantly clear how much they hope this is not the last time he turns out for Town at Kenilworth Road.
Thanks to his goal, they might just get their wish. And next season? For him and the Hatters, who knows? But they have a chance of a glorious finale.
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