Boss Rob Edwards hailed a “great night” as Luton came from behind against ten-man Reading with a Carlton Morris leveller that confirmed a Championship play-off place and extend Town’s unbeaten run to 11 games.
The striker’s 19th of a spectacular debut campaign for the Hatters cancelled out Andy Carroll’s header with the former England international then getting sent off for a second bookable offence when he punched the ball into Town’s net.
Referee Tim Robinson initially gave the goal, but after protests from Luton’s players and the bench, the referee consulted his assistants, ruled out the goal and gave Carroll his marching orders.
That set the scene for a Luton barrage and the leveller came in the 81st minute with Morris heading in from close range after Elijah Adebayo beat keeper Joe Lumley to Luke Berry’s cross.
A third in as many games for Town’s top scorer wasn’t ensured Town reach the end-of-season lottery for the second year running. And this time, they’ve done it with three games to spare and they sit third on the same points haul (75) they finished last term.
Edwards said: “I think it’s a great night for the football club, I really do. We’ve guaranteed a play-off spot with three games to go. Of course, we wanted to win the game, we’ll still keep our foot down and try to keep winning every game, but we’ve got to celebrate this as well tonight.”
While a point was enough to extend Town’s season, it leaves them seven points adrift of second-placed Sheffield United who have a game in hand.
Edwards said: “I love the fact that the lads in there are a little bit flat and disappointed, but we tried to pick them up and they will, they’ll get themselves going again. But everyone at the club, everyone connected with the club should feel really, really proud of the players and pleased with where we’re at at the moment, so let’s keep enjoying it.”
Though it looks unlikely that the Hatters will be able to nick the last remaining automatic promotion spot, Edwards still won’t give up the chase, as he said: “We’ll still keep fighting and going for it, we have to while it’s still mathematically possible. There’s two things – we want to keep our momentum and we want to keep people fresh and fit. That’s what we’ve got to do, so we’ve got to find a real good balance to that.
Town will certainly want to establish that they are play-off top dogs ahead of Monday night’s visit of fourth-placed Middlesbrough, as Michael Carrick’s side beat Hull City 3-1 to cut the gap between them and Luton to one point.
“We’ve got some fantastic games coming up now on consecutive Mondays, and I’ve just said to the lads in there now, we want to treat them as play-off games. They are,” Edwards said.
“This is Middlesbrough coming and they are going to be there, Blackburn as well. So these next couple of games, let’s treat them like that. Let’s get the atmosphere going on Monday night. I’m sure everybody will be looking forward to it. Let’s have an early taste of the play-offs.”
