Luton Town vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth RoadAttendance9,987.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers at Kenilworth Road as Tony Mowbray's promotion-chasing side were held to a goalless draw by the Hatters
Saturday 29 January 2022 18:33, UK
Blackburn remained in the automatic promotion places despite being held to a goalless draw by play-off chasing Luton at Kenilworth Road.
The hosts started much the brighter team and went close early on, as Cameron Jerome's header was gathered at the second attempt by Thomas Kaminski, who also had to collect Henri Lansbury's flicked attempt from Kal Naismith's cross.
Rovers' only chance in the opening stages came from a mistake by Lansbury which saw Sam Gallagher advance on the left, but he put his shot too close to Town stopper James Shea.
Just before the half-hour, Town created their best opportunity from a cleverly-worked free-kick, Lansbury finding Jerome who fed Naismith, only for the defender to scuff his attempt wide.
A deep free-kick from the visitors then saw Bradley Johnson direct his header off target, with Scott Wharton hooking a hopeful volley into the stands as well.
Luton then had a glorious chance on 40 minutes when Onyedinma did superbly on the right-hand side of the area, picking out Jerome whose sidefooter beat Kaminski but not the post as the ball rebounded fortunately into the arms of the 'keeper.
After the break, Blackburn lost the services of Gallagher following an off-the-ball challenge from Tom Lockyer and the resulting free-kick was curled goalwards by Joe Rankin-Costello, Shea palming over the top.
Following a lull in proceedings, Rovers tried their luck twice from distance, as Bradley Johnson's effort deflected off Naismith to drop narrowly wide, before Deyovaisio Zeefuik's attempt was blocked behind.
Luton boss Nathan Jones swapped his front two for the final 20 minutes, bringing on the fit-again Harry Cornick and Zimbabwe international Admiral Muskwe for Jerome and Onyedinma.
However, the pair couldn't really create a meaningful chance in the closing stages for Town as there was to be no last-gasp winner.
If anything, Rovers went closest as sub Daniel Butterworth looked to have waltzed his way through the hosts' back-line in stoppage time, only to be denied by a last-gasp clearance.
Late on, a game which had been simmering away nicely then threatened to boil over with both sets of players coming together in the Rovers penalty area, but referee James Linington only booked Kaminski and Cornick for their troubles.
Luton's Nathan Jones: "With the way that the league is and the brutality of the game schedule and what you have to do, sometimes it's hard to be pure and full of energy and spark. These are a tough side to play against, second in the league, but I felt we were at least good value for a point.
"We've had the two best chances of the game, Kal Naismith should score, Cameron Jerome should score, and then we've had some set-plays there with just a bit of communication we would have had some free headers from point-blank range. So we were probably slightly the better side today, but it was a real tight game and playing against Blackburn who have dominated and overrun sides. I'm relatively pleased, plus it's been a 10-point month and the FA Cup win, so it's been a really good month for us."
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "I said that to the team, we're disappointed with the performance, but it wasn't a game for either team. It wasn't a beauty contest, it was about digging in today, and not making the mistakes that would cost you a 1-0 defeat.
"I don't know how Nathan (Jones) feels, let's just both take the point, forget about the game. I don't think we'll be spending too long on breaking it down and looking at why we didn't do this and why we didn't do that."
