Burnley vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Turf MoorAttendance19,628.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Burnley and Luton Town at Turf Moor as Dan Potts put the Hatters ahead before Josh Brownhill earned a point for the Clarets.
Saturday 6 August 2022 18:19, UK
Josh Brownhill rescued a point for Burnley as they drew 1-1 against a battling Luton side at Turf Moor.
The Hatters took an early lead through Dan Potts and then hung on resolutely against a Clarets side that misfired for most of the afternoon.
Burnley had Brownhill to thank though as he scored early in the second half on an afternoon of frustration for the home side.
The Clarets have had a busy summer, recruiting 10 new faces while also letting 13 players leave Lancashire as Vincent Kompany continues to stamp his own mark on the club.
The former Manchester City captain received a healthy reception as he strode across Turf Moor before his first home Championship game in charge.
But the smile on his face did not last long as Luton took a shock fifth-minute lead.
After some patient build-up play, a ball into the box from Amari'i Bell was headed back across goal by Elijah Adebayo and when neither Charlie Taylor or Taylor Harwood-Bellis dealt with the bouncing ball, Potts clipped home.
After taking the lead, Luton prepared themselves for a Burnley onslaught and their defensive commitment was impressive as they kept the Clarets quiet.
With so many new faces, Burnley will take a while to gel and they just could not get going in front of a home crowd that grew increasingly frustrated and restless.
Indeed, the first half was an especially poor advert for the Championship as Burnley looked increasingly blunt going forward while Nathan Jones' men rolled up their sleeves at the back.
After the break, Burnley immediately showed more potency and attacking desire and they were rewarded with a fine equaliser from Brownhill after 50 minutes.
Luton failed to clear a free-kick properly and when the ball fell to the midfielder on the edge of the area, he curled in a superb shot that left Ethan Horvath no chance.
The goal sparked Burnley into life as Ashley Barnes and new signing Manuel Benson both started to stretch Luton's defence.
Ian Maatsen grew into the match for the home side and his work down the left after 65 minutes eventually saw Barnes clip just over the bar as the home side went looking for a winner.
The best opportunity to grab three points then fell to Benson with 15 minutes left when he blazed over the bar for Burnley from 12 yards out.
Luton looked increasingly ragged towards the end and Barnes missed another golden chance with 10 minutes remaining when he squirted a shot wide of the far post.
Burnley kept pressing, and finished as the stronger team, but Luton were not to be denied their point in the end.
Burnley's Vincent Kompany: "You always want to win but I saw spirit and high energy in the game. For 10 minutes we were on the back foot dealing with what Luton were bringing to the game but I think after that we matched them for everything, matched them for second balls, we were aggressive and got to the ball in numbers.
"The energy started going into the performance, the fans had a lift and the players performed better in the second half."
Luton's Nathan Jones: "I thought we had some really good opportunities, but we lacked a little bit of quality. They played a lot in front of us and we knew they would. It was a really disciplined performance and our keeper didn't have one massive save to make. We had more clear-cut chances than they did as well. When we had chances to counter attack we gave the ball away and we were too eager but I am really happy.
"To come away from Burnley, who have been in the Premier League, have Vincent Kompany and have spent wisely and well, to come here and go toe-to-toe with them is a good point."
