Luton Town FC vs Blackpool (31st Jan 2026)

31/01/2026 LUTON TOWN 1-0 BLACKPOOL

Clark strike sees off Seasiders

Midfielder nets second-half winner to earn Town a fourth victory in five home league games

Jordan Clark’s second-half strike ensured the Hatters bounced back to winning ways with a narrow victory over Blackpool.

After back-to-back away defeats the midfielder netted his eighth goal of the season to break the visitors’ resistance and earn the Town a fourth victory in their last five league games at Kenilworth Road.

It was no more than the Hatters deserved in a stop-start game few of chances but one dominated for long periods by Jack Wilshere’s side.

After the midweek defeat at Huddersfield the manager made two changes to the side that started on Tuesday with Shayden Morris and Nahki Wells restored to the starting line-up.

And the Town began brightly with Morris testing Bailey Peacock-Farrell, the Blackpool goalkeeper, after four minutes with a drive from the edge of box.

As the Hatters continued to press Peacock-Farrell needed to be alert on 20 minutes to save Cohen Bramall’s header after Kasey Palmer, at the heart of every Hatters move, swung in a cross from the right.

The visitors, who had not won at Kenilworth Road since 2003, struggled to get the better of the Town backline but the Hatters had an excellent block from Teden Mengi to thank to thwart a powerful drive from Ashley Fletcher.

But, as half-time approached, the Hatters looked the more likely to open the scoring with Wells shooting straight at Peacock-Farrell and then nodding wide at the back-post following Morris’ deep cross.

Seconds after the restart Mengi motored back to execute a superbly timed tackle to deny Michael Obafemi before the centre-half and then Bramall went down to receive treatment. Bramall came out second best in a robust challenge from the visitors’ Olly Casey and had to be stretchered off and was replaced by Jake Richards.

Play was stopped for several minutes but when the game did resume the Town upped the ante. Palmer sent a free-kick over the bar on 63 minutes, Clark shot wide a moment later before Wells saw a shot snuffed out by Peacock-Farrell a minute after that.

It was all the Hatters as Wilshere introduced Ali Al-Hamadi and Isaiah Jones – and within three minutes of their introduction the Town were in front.

Joe Johnson, who enjoyed a fine game, saw his left-wing cross half-cleared straight to Clark, and the captain struck a low drive from just inside the box and into the corner of the net.

Ahead, the Hatters could breathe a sigh of relief but were almost pegged back when visiting substitute Tom Bloxham flashed a shot wide with 10 minutes left.

Blackpool were leaving it late to stage a comeback and the visitors felt they should have had a penalty when Niall Ennis went down in the box under a challenge from Palmer but the referee waved away their protests.

After numerous stoppages the officials signalled 12 additional minutes to be played but neither side came close to scoring, and the Hatters were able to comfortably see out another win on home soil.

Victory pushes the Hatters back up into seventh place in League One and Bradford are the visitors to Kenilworth Road next weekend.

We’ll see you then.

Town: Keeley, Lonwijk, Johnson, Andersen, Mengi, Clark, Palmer (sub Saville 89), Bramall (sub Richards 55), Kodua (sub Naismith 89), Morris (sub Jones 68), Wells (sub Al-Hamadi 68).

Subs not used: Shea, Lawrence.

Attendance: 10,697, including 728 from Blackpool.

League One: Luton Town 1 Blackpool 0

Clark on target as Luton bounce back from Terriers loss by beating Blackpool

Luton Town ended a disappointing week on the road with something to smile about on home soil as they gained a morale-boosting victory over Blackpool at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

The Hatters went into the game having suffered back-to-back 1-0 defeats at Plymouth Argyle and Huddersfield Town in the last seven days, which has severely dented, if not almost extinguished their play-off hopes, as they knew anything other than victory wouldn’t have been good enough against an opposition who had lost nine from 13 away from home in the league this term.

With that in mind, boss Jack Wilshere made two changes from Tuesday night’s reverse in West Yorkshire, Shayden Morris and Nahki Wells recalled, with Liam Walsh missing out on the squad, while Jake Richards was dropped to the bench, joined for the first time since November by Izzy Jones. Although the manager had warned to expect some ‘angry’ supporters at Kenilworth Road following their recent efforts, that didn’t ever emerge, with almost an air of indifference emanating around the ground at times in the first period.

Town looked to make the bright start they were after, with Kasey Palmer pulling the strings from a deeper role in midfield, Clark and Wells pressing well, with Gideon Kodua, playing centrally again, using his body well for Morris who shot straight at Bailey Peacock-Farrell.

With Palmer pulling the strings to run the show in midfield, Town were utterly dominant in the opening 15 minutes, keeping the Seasiders penned in their own half, although as has been the story of the season, couldn’t create anything meaningful for their forward players. More excellent play from Palmer led to the Hatters’ next opportunity on 20 minutes as he glided away from his man to find Morris.

Taking his return pass, the Jamaican international delivered an exquisite first time cross to the back post that was met by Cohen Bramall, Peacock-Farrell tipping away and Olly Casey completing the clearance before the lurking Wells could pounce. Teden Mengi then did well to block the dangerous Ashely Fletcher’s attempt away, as Town were keen to keep the 18-goal visiting striker on a tight leash, which they managed to do for the majority of the contest.

The game then became a rather stodgy affair with precious little goalmouth action, as the visitors began to block off Palmer’s passing routes, with both sets of supporters taking great pleasure in their chants over where was the best place in the country to live. Play did start to liven up just after the half hour though, Wells’ effort also straight at the visiting stopper.

Morris then got to the byline and dinked over a delivery that saw Wells nod over at the back post, the forward requiring treatment after landing awkwardly, Luton making it four shots on target in the first period, but again it wasn’t difficult for Peacock-Farrell, Clark’s 25-yarder, when he had players available to his right, straight at him.

After the break, there were two fairly major stoppages as Mengi made a superb sprint back to slide in and clear when Michael Obafemi was away, while he needed prolonged treatment after colliding with an opponent when defending the corner. There was another break in play when Bramall was cleaned out by Casey having latched on to Johnson’s backheel, as he was stretchered off with what looked like a serious ankle injury, Richards coming on, as Town quickly won a free kick, sent over the bar by Palmer.

Midway through the half and Luton did finally begin to show some signs of life in the final third, Richards’ shot prodded into Wells’ path but Peacock-Farrell was off his line quickly to smother, Kodua then slicing ambitiously over the bar. Town demonstrated the extra strength they had on their bench when bringing on Ali Al-Hamadi and Jones for the final 22 minutes in the hope it pepped up their attack and it worked a treat with 71 minutes gone.

Johnson swung over a deep cross from the left which saw Al-Hamadi cause problems, Zac Ashworth’s miscued clearance allowing Clark to take a touch and fire into the net via a slight deflection to give the hosts a deserved lead. Forced out of their defensive outlook, the Seasiders finally started to enjoy some kind of territory as they abandoned their desire to cling on for a point, having their first real attempt on 80 minutes as Tom Bloxham got away on the left, slamming off target.

They then pressed further, as with Mads Andersen off the field having looked like he tweaked his hip, it saw the Tangerines swing in two crosses, Nigel Lonwijk doing well to clear one. Town were starting to ride their luck though, Niall Ennis appearing to be caught by Palmer inside the area, as although referee Martin Woods lifted his whistle to his mouth, there was no shrill sound to follows, Lee Evans’ follow-up deflected a whisker wide.

The three injuries saw an absolutely huge 12 minutes of extra time added, and with nerves beginning to kick in and Town conceding space to the visitors, they had to deal with a number of balls being pumped into their box, but bar Evans’ ambitious volley that few into the scoreboard, the Hatters were able to secure a valuable three points.

Hatters: Josh Keeley, Nigel Lonwijk, Mads Andersen, Teden Mengi, Joe Johnson, Kasey Palmer (George Saville 89), Jordan Clark (C), Gideon Kodua (Kal Naismith 89), Cohen Bramall (Jake Richards 55), Shayden Morris (Izzy Jones 68), Nahki Wells (Ali Al-Hamadi 89).

Subs not used: James Shea, Emilio Lawrence.

Seasiders: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, James Husband ©, Olly Casey, Jordan Brown, Lee Evans, Ashley Fletcher, Josh Bowler (Niall Ennis 75), Michael Ihiekwe, Michael Obafemi (Tom Bloxham 62), CJ Hamilton, Zac Ashworth.

Subs not used: Franco Ravizzoli, Ryan Finnigan, Theo Upton, Terry Bondo, Spencer Knight.

Booked: Naismith 90.

Referee: Martin Woods.

Attendance: 10,697 (728 Seasiders).

Wilshere felt it was 'key' Luton got back to winning ways against Seasiders

Clark strikes to down Blackpool at Kenilworth Road

Luton boss Jack Wilshere admitted it was ‘key’ that his side were able to end their four game winless run and bounce back from Tuesday night’s disappointing 1-0 reverse at Huddersfield Town when beating Blackpool 1-0 this afternoon.

The Hatters had gone into the game on the back of successive defeats on their travels in the last seven days, as prior to their trip to West Yorkshire, they also returned empty-handed from a lengthy journey to Devon, going down 1-0 at Plymouth Argyle. With the results seeing Town drop down to ninth in the table, with the play-offs starting to look some way off, it was imperative the hosts got back to winning ways, and they did thanks to Jordan Clark’s eighth goal of the campaign.

Luton had made a bright start to proceedings, with four shots on target in the opening 45 minutes, although bar Cohen Bramall’s header, keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell wasn’t unduly tested. He made another smothering stop from Wells in the second period, before Town did make the breakthrough with 19 minutes left, Zac Ashworth’s poor clearance pounced on by Clark to rifle home and claim all three points for the hosts.

There was one nervey moment late on when Niall Ennis went over Kasey Palmer’s challenge in the box, as referee Martin Woods looked like he was going to give a penalty, but thankfully didn’t blow his whistle, as Wilshere said: “It’s not easy for the players that and we can talk and we did talk about how it wasn’t acceptable that we didn’t win that game (against Huddersfield), but we also need them to bounce back and put in a performance and that’s difficult.

“The key thing is today that we won, we needed resilience, we needed to find a way, I thought we actually played really well. I think we started the game, first 20 minutes, really well, really good, we had a lot of threat and they became a little bit more stubborn, probably JJ (Joe Johnson) coming inside didn’t work and in the second half we found our rhythm again. We probably had more threat and that was our message, keep putting them under pressure, keep attacking their box, keep making them defend and eventually we got the goal that I thought we deserved.”

Luton boss reveals his players had been 'riled up' by Blackpool chief's 'academy' jibe

Wilshere on heated scenes following 1-0 victory over Seasiders

Luton boss Jack Wilshere had no issues with the heated scenes following yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Blackpool after revealing his players had been ‘riled up’ by comments made by Tangerines chief Ian Evatt before the contest.

Prior to the game, then speaking about the trip to Kenilworth Road, Evatt had stated in his pre-match chat with the Seasiders’ official website that Town had gone away from the pragmatic style deployed under Nathan Jones, Rob Edwards and Matt Bloomfield, which had led to promotion to the Premier League thanks to the first two in May 2023, and opted for what he believed was more of an ‘academy approach’ since Wilshere was appointed to the dug-out in October.

Discussing the trip to Bedfordshire, the former Barrow and Bolton manager said: “It’s a difficult game, obviously they’ve completely changed their philosophy and football ideology I would say. I think they have been pragmatic in previous years, slightly more direct under Matt Bloomfield, under Rob, even though I know Rob Edwards wanted to do it a slightly different way.

"Nathan Jones, pragmatic, so they've changed from that type of team to a more possession based academy approach I would say. Lots of moving parts, lots of fluidity, so we're going to have to make sure we press them correctly. It will challenge us that way and then in turn make sure we do our thing better than we had on Tuesday. It's going to be a tough game but we know what to plan for and we’ll go there and give it our best shot.”

With the visitors clearly coming just to try and take a point from proceedings, Town ensured that wasn’t the case thanks to Jordan Clark’s eighth goal of the campaign in the 71st minute, taking full advantage of a mistake from the visitors to rifle home when Joe Johnson’s cross into the box wasn’t cleared by visiting defender Zac Ashworth.

Tensions were already rising in the closing stages after the Seasiders weren’t awarded what looked like a clear penalty when Kasey Palmer tripped Blackpool substitute Niall Ennis in the box, as Luton held on through 12 minutes of stoppage time for what was a much-needed three points. Following the game, some of that frustration appeared to spill on to the pitch, as there were some heated discussions involving Luton’s players and Evatt, with midfielder Palmer pulled away by his own team-mates.

Asked for his thoughts on what went on, Wilshere, who had already aired his own grievances when a tackle by visiting defender Oliver Casey saw Cohen Bramall stretchered off, said: “The players care so much and I think there was a mention of we’re like an academy team from them before the game in their press conference. It riled up a few players and players with personality, I don’t mind it. I want them to show themselves, have some courage, and that’s absolutely fine with me. I didn’t see it, but some of the lads did and I think they wanted to show that we’re not.”

Despite Evatt’s claims, a look at the stats surprisingly showed that Luton only had just over 51 percent of the ball throughout the encounter, which felt a lot more to the naked eye, particularly in the opening 70 minutes in which the Seasiders barely ventured out of their own half, as although having League One’s third top goalscorer Ashley Fletcher in their ranks, made their intentions of settling for what they had, extremely clear.

They eventually posed more of a threat once Clark had broken the deadlock, but still ended up with just five shots and none of them on target as Josh Keeley wasn’t particularly tested in keeping his clean sheet. The Hatters meanwhile looked to shoot on sight far more than they have been doing in their last two away games, with one inside the opening five minutes through Shayden Morris, as they finished with 13 attempts and five on target.

Having only managed a meagre one attempt at goal in Tuesday night’s 1-0 loss to Huddersfield when they were up against 10 men for over an hour, it was something that Wilshere made a point of discussing with his players beforehand, adding: “We spoke a lot about having a real purpose, a real mentality to attack the box.

"I think the team is growing and the identity of the team is clear, but we don’t want to lose sight of attacking the box and attacking the goal. Sometimes when you do try and play through the lines and you do it and you attack quick, you lack that threat and you don’t get enough bodies in the box. So we spoke about having a real purpose to get shots off, if we get wide, get numbers in the box and the boys did that today.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLeqQz2Io9Y – Jack Wilshere post match interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m43IWquCcgs – match highlights