A look back at how Luton Town achieved a superb top-half finish in the Sky Bet Championship during a year like no other…
Excitement was high after two Deadline Day signings in the form of Elijah Adebayo and Tom Ince, the latter who went on to make his debut in the first game of the month against his former team Huddersfield Town.
James Collins had given the Hatters an early lead, but Naby Sarr’s second-half equaliser meant both sides were forced to settle for a point each.
15th in the table heading into a fixture against Birmingham City the following week, there was a degree of importance about the game as the Hatters wanted to continue looking up, rather than down.
Fortunately, they would prevail thanks to Dan Potts’ first goal of the campaign on a cold afternoon at St Andrew’s but the next run of fixtures would prove tricky.
During a 2-0 home defeat versus Cardiff City, defender Tom Lockyer suffered an injury that would keep him out for the reminder of the season, which was worsened by a 3-0 loss against Stoke City just a few days later.
In response to those defeats, Adebayo was chosen to start against Millwall and impressed, even managing to score before the Lions pulled a goal back in the 96th minute to frustrate manager Nathan Jones.
A run of three matches without a win would be ended in dramatic fashion against Sheffield Wednesday, however.
The Owls stormed into the lead and got another before half-time, leaving the gaffer with work to do in order to try and turn it around. Interestingly Ryan Tunnicliffe revealed in his post-match interview that Jones left the players to their own devices, saying: “Usually he is in tinkering, telling us what went wrong but I think he just left us to our own thoughts and to be fair a few of the boys spoke up and said a few home truths. Then he came in, made some changes, geed us up and sent us out which I think was perfect in the situation.”
In the second period, Kal Naismith pulled an early goal back before Tunnicliffe equalised prior to the hour mark. The thrilling comeback was complete by Adebayo with his second goal for the club – a towering header with minutes to spare!