Luton Town vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth Road.
Report and highlights from the Championship clash between Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers at Kenilworth Road as Sam Gallagher earns a point for the away side after Luke Berry had put the Hatters in front.
Saturday 21 November 2020 19:13, UK
Luton and Blackburn played out an absorbing 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road.
Luke Berry had given Luton the lead midway through the second half, but Sam Gallagher replied within minutes.
A high-octane opening 10 minutes saw home defender Rhys Norrington-Davies' low cross well gathered by keeper Thomas Kaminski, who was almost beaten by the full-back's low shot that went inches wide from outside the box.
Elliot Lee's fierce drive was well blocked by a covering defender, with the rebound also deflected away, while George Moncur unable to beat the visitors' back-line with his instinctive blast.
The division's leading scorer Adam Armstrong thought he had opened the scoring on 20 minutes, converting the rebound after Simon Sluga had saved Scott Wharton's close-range header, only to be flagged offside.
Hatters defender Matty Pearson was unable to keep his header down from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's corner, with the centre-half then almost glancing Harvey Elliott's free-kick on to the roof of his own net at the other end, Darragh Lenihan nodding the resulting corner into the empty stands.
Harry Cornick's bouncing effort was easy for Kaminski as neither side could break the deadlock before the break.
In the second period, Moncur went close for the Hatters, his powerful effort batted away by Kaminski at his near post, with the keeper then easily gathering Dewsbury-Hall's weak attempt from range.
Rovers had a fine opportunity on 56 minutes, when Wharton lined up an effort from 20 yards, but he could not keep it down.
Luton boss Nathan Jones threw on top scorer James Collins before the hour-mark in a bid to pep up his side's attacking threats.
Joe Rothwell took aim from 25 yards as his swerving effort forced Sluga into an excellent stop, twisting to dive and collect the ball.
Town's subs almost combined for the opener, James Bree crossing for Collins who could not keep his effort down at the far post.
Armstrong put a decent chance over, when he should have tested Sluga, before Luton led on 69 minutes as Collins' ambitious cross shot saw Berry steal in to toe poke past Kaminski.
Rovers were not behind for long, though, level just three minutes later as Armstrong leapt highest to head across goal where sub Sam Gallagher stole in to stab into the net.
With 10 minutes to go, Luton went close to making it 2-1, Glen Rea's header requiring a fine stop from Kaminski.
In the closing stages, Town stopper Sluga made a sprawling save from Rothwell, as although Blackburn finished the game much the stronger, they could not grab a winner.
Luton's Nathan Jones: "It was a fair result in the end. I'm really pleased with the performance, especially the first 60 minutes, when I thought we were excellent.
"Once we got to grips with the game, I thought some of our play was really brave. Even though we won the final game of the season (against Blackburn) they were different, chalk and cheese games. It was such a competitive game, played at real pace, with real quality and I'm really proud of the team."
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "We're disappointed we didn't get the three points. Respect to Luton, I think they stayed up last season by the skin of their teeth, they're very well organised, they carry a threat, but ultimately we're disappointed. After they scored, our intensity levels rose to the levels they should have been at, we got the goal back and really should have scored again.
"We had some great opportunities to score, some strange refereeing decision did not help our cause, but it's another point in the bag and we move on."
