Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Blackburn Rovers and Luton Town at Ewood Park as Luke Berry struck twice late on, including one in the eighth minute of added time, to snatch a draw for the Hatters.
Saturday 11 September 2021 18:51, UK
Substitute Luke Berry scored a dramatic equaliser in the eighth minute of added time as Luton fought back to draw 2-2 at Blackburn in the Sky Bet Championship.
With five minutes of stoppage time allocated, a lengthy delay for an injury to referee Oliver Langford meant the game was extended and the midfielder scored his and the Hatters' second goal to delight the visiting fans at Ewood Park.
Tony Mowbray's men were two up and in a commanding position at half-time after a four-minute burst during which Tyrhys Dolan confidently finished a superb team move and Harry Pickering netted his first Rovers goal.
Berry slid in from close range with 17 minutes to go but if anything, Rovers looked like extending their lead and missed two gilt-edged chances in stoppage time before Berry's late intervention.
Ben Brereton Diaz was cleared to play at the 11th hour and Ryan Nyambe returned in one of three changes for the hosts. The Hatters made three alterations of their own, including a first start of the season for Dan Potts.
The early exchanges were drab and the only moment of note was a Darragh Lenihan foul that Luton wanted more than a yellow card for after Allan Campbell had to be substituted.
Rovers hit the front in the 27th minute when John Buckley combined with Nyambe, whose cross was brilliantly controlled by Dolan who fired into the roof of the net.
The hosts sliced through Luton again four minutes later when Brereton Diaz's intricate ball found Pickering, who charged into the box before slotting the ball into the far right corner.
Brereton Diaz could have wrapped the game up midway through the second half but his neat turn and shot struck a post, and it did not seem to matter too much to the hosts when Luton's Cameron Jerome spurned a glorious chance in the 70th minute, shooting straight at Thomas Kaminski from close range.
However, the visitors did get back into the game 17 minutes from time when Berry slid in Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu's superb low cross.
In a breathless finish, Nyambe's deflected shot was brilliantly saved by Simon Sluga before the lengthy injury time stoppage for an injury to referee Langford, who had to be replaced.
Brereton Diaz was put clean through afterwards but Sluga again produced a crucial save, before Sam Gallagher's rebound was heroically blocked.
It proved vital as Luton grabbed the latest of equalisers when a long ball was nodded into the path of Berry, who displayed superb composure before lashing beyond Kaminski to end a frenetic encounter.
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "I think we did more than enough to win the match. Unfortunately, the officials made a farce of the game, to be honest, and if I was the guy who refereed that game I would go home and watch it, see what I think I got right. I don't think they get helped by the authorities. If you look at that game, every tackle last year when somebody falls to the ground is a foul or a booking and yet today, like body wrestling out there, and he just plays on.
"I'm not sure he knew what he was doing and I feel pretty vulnerable, should I criticise the ref too much, is it sour grapes? I'm hurting, the team are hurting, we should have won. And yet there is no accountability for the officials. The official's lost the plot, let's be honest. I stand there and watch it, I can see the guy's eyes glazed over. The fourth official doesn't know what to say, he's embarrassed really, and then he ends up going on himself."
Luton's Nathan Jones: "(I feel) nothing but pleasure for what we have been through in 24 hours. We work for two weeks on a certain thing, then we lost one (player) at the hotel last night and one in the early hours, then one in the warm-up, and one to a terrible challenge in the first 15 minutes. So we've had to go through some real adversity. It rocked us because they had two chances (in the) first half and scored them both.
"They showed real quality - we know they have that quality - but statistically, possession-wise, entries, we had the same. But they showed more quality. Second half, we came out with a little more endeavour, we had to risk certain things, sometimes got caught on the counter. But (it's) a thoroughly deserved point for me because Cameron Jerome has a glorious chance to make it 2-1, we scored a perfectly legitimate goal also, and with a bit more quality, we could have scored more.
"Sluga (goalkeeper, Simon) makes a wonderful save a couple of minutes before and I think we got a deserved equaliser because of all we've been through. We showed real character today."
