Luton Town almost came from 3-0 down to rescue a point against promotion favourites West Bromwich Albion, but eventually succumbed 3-2 to the former Premier League outfit.
To say the first half did not go to plan for the Hatters was an understatement. There was always a fear that playing a physical, direct side without arguably their five best exponents of heading the ball was a recipe for disaster and that is how it proved.
Town were bullied throughout the opening 45 minutes and were fortunate to only trail by two goals at the break, goals which came from a long throw which Kal Naismith headed into his own net, before a failure to deal with a corner left Callum Robinson with a chance he couldn’t miss. The hosts could’ve had more but for the heroics of Simon Sluga who made three great saves.
Changes were inevitably made at half-time with boss Nathan Jones replacing Fred Onyedinma with Henri Lansbury and the game began to fall back into the control of the Hatters before Jordan Clark was brutally wiped out by home keeper Sam Johnstone, which resulted in a concussion for the Luton attacker, who needed 11 minutes of treatment before being stretchered off.
Jones said afterwards: “He is conscious. It is a concussion injury so it will be at least seven days. He was brave, too brave for his own good, it didn’t look good but he is conscious and that is the main thing.
“The way goalkeepers are allowed to come out, someone of Jordan’s stature is already on the back foot, but it’s no foul and no blame to Sam Johnstone. it is just when keepers are allowed to come out, if a player came out like that it would be a red card, but it is just unfortunate. He was too brave for his own good and that is the boy he is.”
The game was won minutes later as James Bree appeared to pull out of a challenge leaving the ball to make its way into the box where Karlan Grant turned and fired past Sluga.
Lesser sides could easily have crumbled with everything seemingly against them on the day but that isn’t a trait of this Town side, who showed plenty of character to get back in the game.
They pulled one back when Harry Cornick coolly slotted past Johnstone after Allan Campbell charged down a clearance, before Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu crowned his 300th appearance in a Luton shirt with the second after Cornick saw a shot blocked.
That came in the eighth minute of the 16 that were added on in the second period. Town had a golden chance to level when Admiral Muskwe picked out the keeper from a wonderful Bree cross.
Luton huffed and puffed but ran out of time to complete the comeback but they will leave The Hawthorns buoyed by the character they showed, however they will be all too aware that the defensive errors that arose in the first half cannot be repeated if they are to achieve their aims this term.
Jones said: “For the last 20 minutes, we were the side we wanted to be when we came here. Before that, I was a little bit embarrassed to be honest because I didn’t prepare the team to do that.
“I take responsibility but we didn’t win headers, we lost headers in our own box and we have talked about starting games well, about not conceding in the first 15 minutes and then our centre-half, who is probably our best header of the ball in the team, because we have five missing.
“(Dan) Potts, (Glen) Rea, (Sonny) Bradley, (Reece) Burke and (Tom) Lockyer all missing, that is all your centre-halves missing, people you rely on at set-plays to head the ball. We were always under the cosh but they didn’t have to work that hard to do it.”
Get well soon Jordan. Come back even better. Don’t let the act of a reckless keeper change how you play the game.
The rules need to change. Keepers are too protected and don’t have to show any restraint in their own actions. If Jordan gets there first, heads the ball in, clatters Johnstone and knocks him out it’s a disallowed goal and a red for Jordan. If it happens between 2 outfield players, it’s also a red. And if it happens on the ground instead of in the air it’s a red, despite the fact that you’re much more likely to have serious lifelong problems from head injuries than a nasty leg break. The Swedish lad who won the ball against the Ukrainian but caught his knee after got sent off in the euros. And even Lloris conceded a pen (but didn’t get sent off). The law is an ass. You endanger a person, sod whether you’ve won the ball, you’re reckless and deserve to get sent off.
There is a new villain’s mum for that chant. Not that I like that chant. And it’s not Johnstone’s mum’s fault he’s reckless. But what he did wasn’t right at all. Neither are the baggies fans who laughed and booed but then thought they could compensate by applauding Jordan off the pitch. Awful behaviour.
As for the match, great to go away for the first time since Wigan on 7th March 2020. But we didn’t deserve anything really. The defence wasn’t good enough, and the starting forwards and midfield didn’t get into the game. West Brom scored 2 scrappy goals and the 3rd wasn’t great. No doubt they will go up given the money they have. And no doubt they will come straight back down again as they still won’t be anything like good enough for the prem despite all the money they get for failing in that division.
The positive though was Jerome looks like he could be a decent signing as a great presence on the pitch to bring the young lads along. And the other was they did eventually rally. Do that earlier and there will many more comeback wins this season that last.
Can’t make it on Tuesday unfortunately, but that’s another tough trip. Hopefully we show a little less respect to Barnsley than we did to Baggies. Onwards and upwards.
And one last time, get well soon Jordan.