Luton let a two-goal lead slip then held on for a point against Oxford after Liam Walsh saw red seconds after coming off the bench, as boss Rob Edwards admitted his side are low on “confidence and belief”.
Despite playing better with ten men from the 77th minute, there’s a sense that if it can go wrong, it will go wrong for the Hatters.
Having made a substitute to try and win the contest, the game changed but not in the way Edwards was planning as Walsh launched into the legs of Sikiri Dembele and having just got off the bench was sent to sit down in the changing room.
“I think it’s a right. Yeah. It’s reckless isn’t it?” said Edwards, adding: of Walsh: “He’s an experienced lad. It was just the wrong decision at that moment. People are human beings. They make mistakes sometimes.”
And that error may take all the attention in the cannot-catch-a-break stakes, but Tom Krauß, who scored and assisted Jordan Clark’s opener – who himself missed two great first half chances – was withdrawn injured on 51 minutes and three later Ruben Rodrigues levelled.
Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu replaced the German and passes to purple shirts ramped up the nerves which had started to fray the moment Tyler Goodrham scored a stunner to cut Luton’s lead in half on the stroke of half time.
That sense of the inevitable transferred from the stands to the pitch because, rightly, despite Luton’s lead at the break, United were dangerous throughout. They should’ve had more than the one goal to show for it come the interval as Teden Mengi twice cleared off the line, while Idris El Mizouni missed a sitter.
And when the final whistle blew, Oxford will probably wonder how they did not win. Thomas Kaminski can put his name forward for that. The Belgian goalkeeper kept the Hatters in it with a stunning triple save to prevent a third.
“They were massive,” said Edwards of his keeper, adding: “Yeah, huge. Big, big, big, big, performance from Thomas again. And look, we don’t want him to be having to make those saves. But when he has to he steps up.”
In the opposite goal, Jamie Cumming denied Mengi with a goal-line save from a corner, which proved Luton’s most likely chance of snatching some joy from this contest.
Instead, though there are mitigating circumstances this time, Town’s troubles continue and Edwards admitted confidence is low.
And asked if, at 2-0, it was a game Luton should have won, Edwards said: “Completely agree. Yeah. Really, really frustrated now sitting here talking to you. Our own fault. Clearly, we’re not in a great moment.
“It’s probably a bit of a lack of confidence and, a bit of belief. And, the timing of their first goal obviously didn’t help. It’s never a great time to concede, but the timing of it. But again, that’s our doing.”
The manager added: “We’re not in great form at the moment. And it (Goodrham’s goal) just knocked the lads’ confidence. They’ve (Oxford) got a bit of control. Obviously the crowd are edgy at the moment and demanding more and rightly so. And it affected us.
“But what I was pleased with then, actually, is when we went down to ten men, we probably looked the better team and certainly better than we did in that second half with 11. So the lads stayed with it, showed some character and belief and actually then could have nicked it with a header cleared off the line and some set pieces, so they didn’t go under.
“It’s just not a great performance in the second half because of a lack of confidence and belief.”
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