Burnley 1
Amdouni 36
Town 1
Morris 90+2
This team genuinely never give up. Even when everything might look lost the Hatters find a way.
Here, at Turf Moor, on a freezing cold Friday night three-and-a-half hours from Kenilworth Road and with three minutes remaining of five added at the end of the 90 remaining, the time came.
Alfie Doughty – so often this season the creator of important Hatters goals this season – hung one final, dangerous ball high into the Burnley penalty area. Then everything went in slow-motion. Elijah Adebayo held off goalkeeper James Trafford and in the panic that ensued, one man kept a cool head. Carlton Morris, the man who scored the Town’s first goal of this maiden Premier League season, kept his eye on the ball and nodded it gloriously into the empty net. A nervous wait followed. A VAR check. Did Ellijah foul Trafford? The men at Stockley Park said no. 1-1. Elation. Relief.
It was a deserved equaliser, and a massive one at the bottom of the Premier League table, at the very end of a game in which the Hatters dominated – 60-40 in possession told its own story – but it needed that one final action to ensure a precious point.
The first half saw the Hatters dictate the play – the only thing missing was the final product, as the Town, utilising both flanks to great effect all evening, played positively on the front foot.
While the Hatters were playing some eye-catching football, the clear-cut chances were few and far between and you felt that the Town would need to find one and convert one should Burnley find some rhythm. Which, eventually, they did.
The Town’s nightmare was realised nine minutes before the break. Wilson Odobert wriggled down the left and squared for Zeki Amdouni to side-foot beyond Thomas Kaminski. The goal came during the hosts’ best spell of the half and it meant that Rob Edwards needed a “stern” half-time team-talk, he would say afterwards.
After the break, Burnley pressed for a second but the Town held firm and slowly worked their way back into it. Again, despite seeing much of the ball, off-your-seat chances remained at premium.
At the other end Kaminski, who was riled all evening by the home faithful for his career at neighbours Blackburn, needed to be alert to keep his side within a goal from parity, especially when keeping out a deflected Odobert effort shortly after the hour.
Time ticked into the final 15 minutes – a notoriously good period for Hatters goals this season. Burnley seemed content with a point and even with five added minutes it looked as if the Town had run their race.
However, the Hatters would have the final say. Doughty’s cross, Morris’ header. 1-1 and relieved scenes on the faces of everyone on the pitch in white and those of a Luton persuasion inside Turf Moor.
A content point a long way from home. We’ll take that.
See you at Bolton.
Up the Town.
Town: Kaminski; Ogbene, Doughty, Osho, Mengi, Bell; Lokonga (sub Berry 86), Clark (sub Morris 74), Barkley, Townsend (sub Chong 64); Adebayo.
Subs not used: Krul, Potts, Woodrow, Burke, Mpanzu, Giles.