Manager Nathan Jones admitted his men were “dead on their feet” as Luton let a three-goal lead slip against Swansea who scored with three deflected long range shots, with a Joël Piroe leveller in injury time equaliser to stun Kenilworth Road.
It was such a contrast to a sensational first half when there was a carnival atmostphere kick-started by Luke Berry’s stunner and Elijah Adebayo’s brace, which should’ve had three. But Town just couldn’t come close to replicating the high-pressing play that reduced City to wrecks.
And boss Jones lamented two long away days to Blackburn Rovers and Bristol City, plus another warm-up blow, this time to Wednesday’s last-gasp hero Danny Hylton (calf), for an already injury and illness-hit Hatters squad.
“They’ve come into it in the last half an hour and got three goals and that’s really disappointing from our point of view. We looked dead on our feet,” said the Town chief.
“We’ve had two big away journeys and there’s no benefit to this two (away games) and two (home games), because we’ve had real trouble. I haven’t been able make changes today.
“We’ve had no benefit whatsoever from two away journeys and then coming back to play here. We haven’t been able to do any work, and that’s tough.
“But today, for an hour, I thought we were excellent. In the first half it was as good a defensive pressing performance as you’ll see. We pressed them high and could’ve had for more then we did. We didn’t think we’d need more than three goals to win a game.”
All three of the visitors’ goals were struck from outside of the box and they could’ve even snatched it at the death when Simon Sluga blundered, racing recklessly out of his box.
It should never have got to those nail-biting and frustrating scenes as Town were outrageously good in a first half and could’ve gone into half time with a greater lead.
Berry sizzled in an acrobatic scissor kick for his third in three games to open the scoring, then Adebayo rifled in a penalty after Harry Cornick was tripped.
The striker then doubled up, supplying the finish touch at the back stick after a sublime Hollywood pass from Kal Naismith to James Bree who rolled an inch-perfect pass to put it on a plate. You’ll rarely see a more eye-catching team goal.
Adebayo should’ve had a first half hat-trick when he clean through on goal, racing from the halfway line, but he took a heavy second touch and by the time he dinked over Ben Hamer, the keeper had closed down the angle.
At that stage, it was all cheers, so the miss seemed immaterial. So too when the forward rolled a ball into the path of Cornick but, one-on-one with the goalie, he hit the post. They would ultimately prove costly misses.
“It was frustrating that we were only three up at half time,” said Jones, adding: “We should’ve been out of sight. Elijah’s gone through at 3-0, it could’ve been four. Harry Cornick’s hit the post when clean in.”
As good as the Hatters were in the first half, they were the opposite after the break.
Jamie Paterson’s shot took a wicked deflected off Naismith and though Sluga adjusted mid-dive to get a touch, the ball looped up and bounced over the line.
The Croatian then had no chance four minutes from time when Olivier Ntcham’s long ranger crashed off Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and into the top corner.
And when six minutes off injury time were bafflingly displayed by the fourth official, there seemed an inevitability of what would come next.
Even so, it was criminal to allow Piroe so much time to pick his spot in the bottom corner.
And Swansea could’ve taken all three points deep into stoppage time when Sluga raced out of his goal and got caught in no man’s land, though Reece Burke and Tom Lockyer combined to clear the danger.
Jones added: “They scored three from outside the box. It’s not like the carved us open. All three got deflections, so it’s a tough one to take. We’ve been the beneficiary of late goals this week and now we’re the victim. Ironically, we could’ve lost the game.
“We’re still picking up points and we’re not in any danger but, to be fair, we’ve dropped four points this week. We missed chances against Bristol City and today, 3-0 up, it should’ve been four. That’s the Championship. We have to swallow it and bite the bullet.”
This was Luton’s fourth straight draw, and though late fightbacks in Blackburn and Bristol was the better end of the deal, it’s hard to see how a Saturday afternoon of such promise could’ve ended so badly.
