Blackburn Rovers vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Ewood Park.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Blackburn Rovers and Luton Town at Ewood Park as Adam Armstrong struck the winning goal five minutes from time to earn victory for Tony Mowbray's men
Saturday 30 January 2021 19:42, UK
Adam Armstrong's late header made it three wins in four for Blackburn as they edged out Luton 1-0 to strengthen their Championship play-off hopes.
The striker's powerful 85th-minute header after quick thinking from Lewis Holtby following a Luton injury stoppage proved to be enough in a tight game.
But with a striker as clinical as Armstrong, one chance can make all the difference and he struck to move Rovers within three points of sixth-place Bournemouth.
Luton will be bitterly disappointed after a spirited display that warranted something. They remain midtable after losing for the fourth time in five away league games.
Stewart Downing made his 750th career appearance, in one of two changes from Blackburn's win at Middlesbrough. Luton made three alterations, including a first start since December for Matty Pearson, the matchwinner in this fixture last season.
Blackburn started the game with real intensity and were handed a golden early opportunity after a stray back-pass from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall but Sonny Bradley's superb tackle denied Armstrong.
Harry Cornick's lung-busting run from deep inside Luton territory relieved the pressure on the visitors and his threaded pass set up Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu 12 yards out but Downing brilliantly blocked his strike.
Instant control from Harvey Elliott manufactured a chance for Rovers on the half hour but the shot did not match the touch, and Luton ended the half strongly, with Ryan Nyambe producing an important intervention to deny Mpanzu.
Blackburn's Armstrong had the first shot on goal immediately after the restart when he did well to cut inside from the right before shooting straight at Simon Sluga.
Rovers boss Tony Mowbray made a quadruple substitution and it seemed to inject much-needed impetus into his side.
Tyrhys Dolan was sent on and missed a glorious chance in the 73rd minute when Bradley Dack intercepted a pass from the back and Sam Gallagher's cross fell to the teenager, but a last-ditch block by Martin Cranie deflected the ball over.
It felt like one goal would be enough all afternoon and so it proved as Rovers struck five minutes from time when Holtby's ball was nodded across goal by Gallagher towards Armstrong who powered his header past Sluga from 12 yards for his 18th of the season.
The Hatters went agonisingly close to equalising in the final minute. A testing free-kick was flicked goalwards but cleared off the line by Barry Douglas before the offside flag thwarted Cornick, and Blackburn held on for a vital win.
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "I think it's a good win. They're a dangerous team. I've just said to the team, find a way to win, and we did today. (And we) kept another clean sheet.
"It wasn't great at times. When we have games like this, if we have aspirations to get into the top six, we have to be consistently better. But we will be better, as we have been miles better than that and still not picked up points or not won games. There have been so many dropped points here that we've deserved to win.
"Today was a tight game and yet one bit of quality was enough. The substitutes impacted the game. Holtby with the pass, Gallagher knocked it back and Armstrong stuck it in."
Luton's Nathan Jones: "We should be talking about a really good away performance but I'm not because for 10 seconds we switched off and that's cost us the game and that's the thing that makes me actually feel physically sick if I'm honest. We played very well. These create chances against a lot of teams. They didn't create any chances today. We defended excellently.
"Our work-rate, structure, pressing, organisation was superb. On another day, with a little bit more cutting edge, little bit more quality, we could nick it. As the game was petering out a little bit and they committed, I felt we could really counter them. We did and had a great opportunity. Didn't take it and that's the thing that frustrates me.
"It's a drop ball, all my players are standing around and the thing that really kills me is we said at half-time that sooner or later, when they get frustrated, they'll bring Gallagher on. They bring him on, go direct, he heads back across and they score."
