Luton Town vs Blackpool. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth RoadAttendance9,843.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Luton Town and Blackpool at Kenilworth Road as Nathan Jones' Hatters were denied the chance to gain comfort in their quest to reach the play-offs after a Gary Madine penalty cancelled out Elijah Adebayo's early opener
Saturday 23 April 2022 19:01, UK
Luton were unable to gain comfort in their bid to seal a Sky Bet Championship play-off spot as they were held to a nervy 1-1 draw by Blackpool.
Nathan Jones' men came into the game off the back of successive 1-0 wins and made the ideal start when Elijah Adebayo found the net with his 16th league goal of the season inside two minutes.
But they were unable to capitalise on seizing the advantage early on and parity was restored when Gary Madine converted a penalty in the second half after CJ Hamilton was brought down (55).
That was the way it ended, too, with Luton controversially denied a last-minute winner having ruled that Adebayo fouled Richard Keogh before he crossed for Admiral Muskwe to sweep home.
The Hatters drop to fifth, five points above seventh-placed Millwall with two games left to play. Blackpool, meanwhile, stay 16th.
Although Luton could not mathematically book their play-off spot on Saturday lunchtime, a win would have all-but secured their top-six spot - and there was a party atmosphere inside Kenilworth Road as a result.
Within 120 seconds of kick-off, the volume was cranked up a notch when Adebayo slinked his way out of trouble on the right-hand side of the box and sent in a cross that was helped over the line by a deflection off Richard Keogh.
Luton had already won 19 games in which they had less than 50 per cent possession in each and, predictably, Blackpool were afforded the chance to come forward. They found it difficult to test goalkeeper Harry Isted, though, as he commanded his box well as he stood in for the injured James Shea, who has sustained a knee injury which requires surgery.
Harry Cornick, however, had two decent chances to add a second for the Hatters. His volley was first beaten away by Chris Maxwell, before he diverted a wonderfully elegant Robert Snodgrass cross over the bar.
Within 10 minutes of the restart, Blackpool netted the leveller their toils deserved when Madine slammed in from 12 yards after Hamilton was brought down following an enterprising run into the box.
The Hatters were denied a penalty midway through the second half when Snodgrass was cleaned out by Keshi Anderson, while substitute Josh Bowler was caught in a tangle of legs with Kal Naismith. On both occasions referee John Brooks waved appeals away.
In a frantic final few minutes, Cameron Jerome steered a header wide, before Muskwe swept in a cross from Adebayo, only for the referee's whistle to contentiously deny him for a foul on Keogh in the build-up.
With some excellent deliveries from the left-hand side, Snodgrass created multiple openings for Luton on Saturday afternoon that, had they been converted, could have helped Jones' men to an important victory.
Luton's Nathan Jones:"We're very, very hard done by not to have got three points. We didn't play well today, we weren't ourselves but we did enough to win the game. We had some glorious chances, Harry Cornick had two in the first half, Cameron Jerome's had one, Admiral Muskwe's had one, Allan Campbell's had a chance, we had a penalty shout and that's a clear goal, no issue whatsoever.
"Suddenly we don't get that and we end up drawing the game. Blackpool were front-footed today, caused us a few problems, Harry (Isted) hasn't had many saves to make, but they're playing with freedom, four up top, it's easy to do that when you're 16th and haven't really got anything to play for and we're really at it."
Blackpool's Neil Critchley: "We'd spoken about their start and highlighted it, they play with high intensity and they get the ball forward quickly. They play a very simple but effective game, we spoke about the first 20 minutes, about how to manage it and then we didn't do that. It was strange how it happened (Adebayo's goal), we didn't deal with the ball in the corner very well and then Keysy (Keogh) comes across and we don't seem to get a little bit of luck as it gets deflected and could go anywhere, but it goes right into the bottom corner.
"I haven't seen it back, but I think there was someone inside the six-yard box and Maxy's (Chris Maxwell) there. Was he (Amari'i Bell) offside and interfering? It's such a grey area, I think we need clarification on that ruling. After they scored I thought we were good for the next 20 minutes, grew into the game, looked really threatening and dangerous.
"They had a good chance, but we had a good chance as well, and then in the second half, again, I thought we were the team in the ascendancy. We got a penalty, which was a penalty, could have had another penalty when Josh Bowler went down, but I thought we stayed strong. We finished strong and if one team looked most likely to create a chance near the end of the game and win it, I felt it was us."
Blackpool are back in action at 7.45pm on Tuesday April 26, when they travel to Oakwell to face Barnsley, while Luton return at 5.15pm on Monday May 2, when they face already promoted Fulham at Craven Cottage, live on Sky Sports Football.
