It may only be a point but this will be an evening that lives long in Luton memories, as James Collins netted an 85th minute equaliser and Sonny Bradley scored a screamer in a relentless romp to mark their thrilling return to the Championship after 12 years away.
New boy Martin Cranie scored the other goal for the Hatters, but it was arguably record signing, goalkeeper Simon Sluga that produced the star turn, despite a howler that allowed Britt Assombalonga to equalise at 2-2 with the hosts well on top.
In the space of a first half minute he produced after a world-class top corner stop to deny Marvin Johnson and then let one wriggle under him, but the Croatian international redeemed himself in the second half.
But first there was a strike he could do nothing about. Town began to tire around the hour mark and Lewis Wing wrapped one in the top corner which looked, in that moment, that Luton would lose.
But Sluga twice denied Assombalonga and then Daniel Sanchez Ayala from point blank range and when the former blasted a penalty over the bar, there was something in the Luton air that suggested this could still be the Hatters’ day. And so it proved.
Harry Cornick and George Moncur both came on after Wing’s stunner and they helped the hosts to the grandstand finish that their efforts deserved.
Cornick got in behind and found Dan Potts in the box where the defender dropped his shoulder but blasted at the man he’d just left on the deck. Yet Collins was sniffing around and he stroked in the rebound. The Kenny end went berserk and who knows what would have happened if he’d won it. It was so nearly the case.
In added time, Moncur picked out the striker connected beautifully for what looked like a winner, only for Republic of Ireland international Darren Randolph to deny him with an amazing save.
It wasn’t to be this time, but for a club described by many a pundit as potential whipping boys they showed they can mix it with some of the best.
And, for a team that went a whole campaign unbeaten at home last season, there was a sense of start as you left off. Certainly, with the crowd singing the team off to the tune of “we are top of the league” it felt like the summer had never happened. Long may that continue.
Luton: Sluga, Cranie, Potts, Tunnicliffe, Bradley, Pearson, McManaman (Moncur, 74), Lee (Butterfield, 60), Shinnie (Cornick, 69), Mpanzu, Collins
Unused subs; Berry, Galloway, Jones, Shea
Middlesbrough: Randolph, Sanchez Ayala, Shotton, Clayton, Assombalonga, Fletcher, Hobson, McNair (Saville, 86), Johnson (Browne, 70), Wing, Coulson
Unused subs: Tavernier, Gestede, Wood, Bola, Pears
Referee: Oliver Langford
Attendance: 10,053 (960)
