Luton Town FC vs Plymouth Argyle (19th Feb 2025)

19/02/2025 LUTON TOWN 1-1 PLYMOUTH ARGYLE

Hatters held at home by Plymouth

Brown on target but Town held by Pilgrims

The Town had to settle for a point as they were held at home to fellow strugglers Plymouth.

Jacob Brown headed the Hatters in front just 40 seconds after being introduced as a second-half substitute but Argyle levelled 15 minutes later.

The Town pushed late for a winner but could not find the finishing touch and the points were shared at Kenilworth Road.

After the positive display against Sheffield United on Saturday, the Town began with one change to the side that ran the Blades close.

Norwegian striker Lasse Nordås made his full debut in attack replacing Carlton Morris who missed the game through illness.

And Nordås had a great chance to open his account after just three minutes when he headed over Alfie Doughty’s cross from close range.

Both sides cancelled each other out in a cagey first period but the Town were fortunate not to fall behind on 33 minutes when Callum Wright’s finish was incorrectly ruled out for offside having sped clear.

Back came the Hatters and Nordås tested Argyle goalkeeper Conor Hazard with an instinctive shot from close range – even though the flag of the linesman was raised.

Nordås was enjoying himself and the transfer window arrival sent an ambitious volley wide of the target having taken Kal Naismith’s raking diagonal pass forward just before half-time.

Just 90 seconds after the break the Hatters came close to breaking the deadlock when Elijah Adebayo pounced on a loose ball in the box to volley over from six yards.

That was Adebayo’s last chance before he made way for Brown and within seconds of his introduction he put the Town ahead. Doughty’s ball into the box was knocked down by Nordås into the path of Brown and the substitute bravely diverted the ball home with his first touch.

It was the Town’s first goal at Kenilworth Road after four barren matches – an unwanted club record – but the lead would only last 15 minutes.

With Mark McGuinness waiting off the pitch having received treatment, a long ball from the left into the Hatters box found Talovierov at the back post and he nodded past Kaminski with 20 minutes to play.

The Town responded well and came close to restoring the lead just two minutes later only for Brown to head Doughty’s teasing cross into the arms of Hazard from close range with the goal at his mercy.

Half-chances came and went as the Hatters pushed for a late winner but while eight additional minutes signalled a grandstand finish, no goal would come and both sides had to be content with a point and the Town's wait for a win goes on.

Town: Kaminski; Jones, Doughty, McGuinness (sub McGuinness 83), Naismith, Bell; Nakamba, Walsh (sub Baptiste 66) Aasgaard, Nordås (sub Alli 83), Adebayo (sub Brown 54).

Subs not used: Krul, Walters, Nelson, Johnson, Bowler.

Attendance: 11,752, including 1,336 from Plymouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndgvY8W-Hko – match highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1_8Owq-uXo – Matt Bloomfield interview

Luton finally end home drought but Pilgrims hit back to grab a point

Championship: Luton Town 1 Plymouth Argyle 1

Luton's hopes of staying in the Championship this season were given yet another huge blow as they failed to beat relegation rivals Plymouth Argyle at Kenilworth Road this evening.

Although the Hatters finally ended their unwanted club record run of four games without scoring a home goal, Jacob Brown netting with his first touch in the second half, that was to prove little in the way of solace for the Town fans who saw the Pilgrims hit back to level 15 minutes later and then ensure the contest finished all square.

Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield, who is still without a win in his seven matches in charge, made one change to the team who had performed so admirably against Sheffield United on Saturday, deadline day signing Lasse Nordas earning a full debut in place of Carlton Morris. The January addition should have given his side the lead on just three minutes, heading Alfie Doughty's tantalising cross over from just a few yards out.

Town tried to pepper the visitors' box courtesy of Mark McGuinness's long throws, as one almost paid off, dropping for Nordas whose snapshot deflected over the bar. Despite having all the ball, it was a hugely scrappy affair as Town couldn't produce the kind of rip-roaring display they were after, the dominating Argyle centre backs gobbling up almost every long ball that was played forward by the Hatters.

Luton were thankful to the linesman's flag on 32 minutes though when Tymoteusz Puchacz's ball forward saw Thomas Kaminski criminally hesitate and Callum Wright nip into toepoke past him and into the net. A linesman's flag drew an instant halt to the celebrations from the packed away end, although the replays show that the attacker was most likely level, gifting Town with a huge let-off.

They almost made the most of it, Nordas again finding space inside a congested area to volley goalwards, Conor Hazard with an terrific instinctive stop, although the forward was also adjudged offside. He then tried for the most spectacular of debut goals, Naismith doing quite magnificently to break up an attack and unleash a ball over the top that saw the forward attempt an ambitious volley which would have been brilliant until it skewed wide.

As they had done in the first half, Bloomfield’s side ought to have netted moments after the restart, Jones' cross touched up into the air by Nikola Katic as for the first time he looked unnerved, Elijah Adebayo reading the situation well, but, stretching, he volleyed over the top, in what was another big chance missed. Luton finally did get the goal they were craving on 55 minutes though as Brown came off the bench to end what was becoming a quite tortuous night for Adebayo.

With his first touch he broke the deadlock too, Doughty's ball into the box nodded down by Nordas, as the substitute escaped his man to beat Hazard and cleverly divert his header into the net. Desperate to defend their lead, Luton could only manage 15 minutes, as with McGuinness off the pitch having taken a whack, Plymouth took full advantage, sending two deep crosses into the box.

The first was well defended, only for Doughty to then send his clearance horribly sideways and out for a throw, allowing Argyle to do exactly the same again. They did so with greater reward on this occasion, the imposing centre half Maksym Talovierov, who had been quite brilliant at repelling anything in his vicinity, got above Amari'i Bell to send his downward header into the net, scoring what was just the visitors’ sixth goal on the road all season.

Having to go again, the hosts almost did just that, a good flick in the box ending up with Shandon Baptiste's drive deflected away, as the midfielder appeared to injure himself once more, but thankfully was able to come back on following treatment. Brown then had to make it 2-1 on 73 minutes when another short corner saw Doughty opt to cross on his right foot, but from a couple of yards, the forward put his free header straight at Hazard who clung on gratefully.

Baptiste’s cross looked to have caused Hazard trouble, but none of his team-mates had gambled, as despite eight minutes of injury time being signalled, there was to be no grandstand finish, Millenic Alli's hopeful backheel sailing into the Kenilworth Road End, as Luton’s miserable run continued against a side who still haven’t won outside of Devon this term.

Hatters: Thomas Kaminski, Mark McGuinness (Mads Andersen 83), Kal Naismith ©, Amari'i Bell, Izzy Jones, Marvelous Nakamba, Liam Walsh (Shandon Baptiste 65), Alfie Doughty, Thelo Aasgaard, Elijah Adebayo (Jacob Brown 55), Lasse Nordas (Millenic Alli 84). Subs not used: Tim Krul, Reuell Walters, Joe Johnson, Zack Nelson, Josh Bowler.

Pilgrims: Conor Hazard, Jordan Houghton, Callum Wright (Darko Gyabi 87), Mustapha Bundu, Tymoteusz Puchacz, Adam Randell ©, Nikola Katic, Rami Al Hajj (Muhamed Tijani 62), Matthew Sorinola (Kornel Szucs 62), Maksym Talovierov, Victor Palsson.

Subs not used: Daniel Grimshaw, Bali Mumba, Nathanael Ogbeta, Michael Obafemi, Malachi Boateng, Michael Baidoo.

Referee: Dean Whitestone.

Booked: Szucs 76, Bundu 90.

Attendance: 11,752 (1,336 Pilgrims).

Bloomfield frustrated as his search for a first win as Luton manager continues after Plymouth draw

New boss yet to taste victory in his first seven matches

Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield was left frustrated that his lengthy wait to pick up a first win as Luton manager was stretched to seven games after a thoroughly disappointing 1-1 draw against relegation rivals Plymouth Argyle last night.

The hosts had gone close early on, Lasse Nordas heading Alfie Doughty’s tantalising cross over the top on his full debut, before the Norwegian forward had another attempt deflected over. Hatters then had a huge let off on 33 minutes when Callum Wright toepoked past a hesitant Thomas Kaminski, only for the Pilgrims midfielder to be wrongly adjudged offside.

After the break, Elijah Adebayo volleyed over the top, before Jacob Brown came off the bench for the forward to score with his first touch on 55 minutes, diverting Nordas’s knock-down past Conor Hazard to end Luton’s four and a half game search for a home goal. However, the visitors levelled on 70 minutes, Maksym Talovierov rising above Amari’i Bell’s tame challenge to find the net for what was only the Pilgrims’ sixth away goal of the campaign and restore parity.

Brown wasted another glorious opening moments later, putting his free header straight at Hazard, as it means that Bloomfield, who was appointed on January 14, is still searching for a maiden victory, taking a measly three points from 21 in that time. With Town themselves now on an 11-game sequence without a success in the Championship, they remain bottom of the table, two points away from safety, 13 games left to save themselves from an embarrassing drop into League One.

Speaking afterwards, then asked about not being able to enjoy a triumph so far, the boss said: “Disappointed, really disappointed. I wanted to do it as soon as possible of course, so I’m really disappointed it hasn’t come our way. A number of the games could have done. Preston in the first one absolutely could have gone our way, we’ve gone ahead twice at Oxford and not held out, and both Saturday (against Sheffield United) and tonight could have gone our way.

"They haven’t and we have to be honest with ourselves about the situation. I understand it, I don’t like it, but we have to be positive and keep focusing on getting that first victory. We wanted to win the game, but I think we have to be cautious to build it up into something, as nothing was going to be decided tonight. Of course we wanted to win, the performance showed that. My disappointment and our disappointment at not winning shows that, but at the same time there’s still games to play that we have to attack.

"I understand the severity of the situation that we’re in, of course I do and we believe we’ll improve and we have to believe that and we do believe that and on the balance of the two performances from Saturday and tonight, I think the evidence is there that we will improve. We wanted three points, we wanted to win the game, I thought we did enough to win the game and we're really frustrated not to have done so with the amount of opportunities we created.

“We limited our opposition to very little, but we didn't do the two boxes good enough to win the game ultimately and we're really frustrated about that. We're disappointed, the players are disappointed, but they've put everything out on the pitch and I don't think we can argue against that. We'll pick the bones out of it like we always do and use the positives for moving forward and look to use the negatives for the things that we need to improve on as there's a lot of work still to do and we aim to do that.”

Having taken the lead through Brown’s first touch on 55 minutes, the forward latching on to Lasse Nordas’s header to end what was a 415 minute drought for the Hatters at Kenilworth Road, Town were then pegged back just 15 minutes later, when towering centre half Talovierov was able to jump unopposed to nod home a deep cross

The goal came when centre half Mark McGuinness was off the pitch having picked up an injury which required treatment, leaving Town a man light at the back. They had defended the first cross well enough, only for Doughty’s clearance to skew horribly sideways and give the visitors the exact same opportunity to load the box, which they did to great effect on this occasion. Asked about his centre half being absent from the attack, Bloomfield said: “I think they take it from when the ball comes back in play.

"There’s obviously nuances to the rule, if the physio comes on then the player has to go off for 30 seconds, but if a player goes down, the game gets stopped, but he doesn’t get treatment, as we saw multiple times tonight, they just carry on. It’s frustrating for us to concede with Mark off the pitch. If he’s on we have one extra defender in the box, but I don’t want to make excuses, we’ve got to see out these moments, it’s crucial to winning games, absolutely crucial.

“We limited, I’ve been told, three shots to our opposition and that was one of them, but we didn't do the two boxes well enough to win the game ultimately and we're really frustrated about that. Second phase and switching off at set-pieces is something that unfortunately we’ve done a few times this season and if you want to win games you have to do everything absolutely right from the first whistle to the last and we’re really disappointed not to win.”

Luton could well have picked up the victory had Brown found the target again moments later, timing his run perfectly to meet Doughty’s wonderful cross, only to put his header straight at Pilgrims keeper Conor Hazard from just a few yards out. Bloomfield added: “We wanted three points, we wanted to win the game, I thought we did enough to win the game and we're really frustrated not to have done considering the amount of opportunities we created. I think we underperformed our xG (expected goals) again which we’re frustrated with and our opponents overperformed it and that’s what’s resulted in the point rather than the three.

"I’ll never criticise anyone for missing chances, it’s the hardest thing in the game to stick the ball in the back of the net, so I just praise the character to keep getting in there. We’ve got to keep getting in there, we’ve got to keep taking chances, we’ve got to keep getting on the end of them and if we do that and keep playing the way we have the last two games, the points have to follow. We can’t keep defying logic in terms of the we’re creating chances, it will come our way absolutely.”