Luton Town 0-0 Middlesbrough: Matt Bloomfield's Hatters suffer another blow in survival battle
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Luton Town and Middlesbrough at Kenilworth Road on Saturday; Matt Bloomfield's Hatters suffer another blow to their survival bid
Saturday 15 March 2025 19:19, UK
Luton's hopes of staying in the Championship received another huge blow as their wastefulness in front of goal cost them dear during a 0-0 draw with Middlesbrough at Kenilworth Road.
Town had looked so bright from kick-off as they came flying out of the traps, creating three excellent chances in the opening 10 minutes.
First, the ball was cleared out as far as Liam Walsh who dummied his man and let fly on his left foot, Boro goalkeeper Mark Travers claiming at the second attempt before Carlton Morris could pounce.
Then the midfielder had another crack when Jordan Clark's cross was deflected to him, opting to volley this time as it skewed wide, before on eight minutes the Hatters simply had to score, Elijah Adebayo's cross deflecting into the path of Thelo Aasgaard just five yards out but he could only sky over the bar.
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Izzy Jones had a pop against his former side which was always rising before Luton wasted another gilt-edged opportunity when Alfie Doughty sped away to pick out Aasgaard but, with the whole goal to aim at, he put his attempt from five yards straight at Travers.
Luton's inability to score was catching as a long throw reached Doughty who got his feet all wrong while Walsh put another attempt narrowly wide.
Town kept creating and missing chances, one of the worst when Aidan Morris' poor back pass went straight into the path of Adebayo who faced with just Travers to beat could only shoot straight at the stopper allowing Boro to escape once more.
The Hatters threatened again after 35 minutes when Morris' low shot was parried by Travers, with the forward getting to the loose ball but his cross was cleared away before a diving Adebayo could turn home.
On the stroke of half-time, Luton failed to score again as Morris' snapshot was tipped over by Travers and Christ Makosso's ambitious volley flew wide.
After the break, Town couldn't get the same kind of momentum going as the visitors were able to prevent them having any kind of real chances on their goal for long periods.
Just after the hour mark, Finn Azaz almost made Luton pay, curling inches wide of the target, while Town tried to mount some late pressure, with Mark McGuinness' header dropping the wrong side of the post.
With 10 to go, Boro looked for a winner and Samuel Iling-Junior hammered over from range and Luton might have snatched it late on but substitute Lasse Nordas stabbed wide via a last-ditch deflection.
Delano Burgzorg hit the side-netting in stoppage time but with results going against the Hatters, Matt Bloomfield's team are now four points from safety, with Boro staying in eighth spot.
The managers
Luton's Matt Bloomfield:
"I was really proud of the performance. I thought some of the football we played, the chance creation, we put pressure on our opposition, top opposition as well for the league, I thought the boys were excellent, especially in the first half.
"It was never going to be easy to replicate that in the second half because of how dominant we were but I feel incredibly disappointed I'm not sat here with three points now.
"We created numerous opportunities to win the game, on another day we probably take two, three or four of them, they were that good.
"Some of the football we played, the way tactically we had spoken about how to break our opposition down, the boys implemented it and I'm so proud of the way they are going about their work at the moment.
"We're playing against some real top teams and having a right go so to not take one of the chances is obviously incredibly disappointing.
"I have to go back to the positives of the performance defensively, another clean sheet, but I understand the situation.
"I'm a realist but I'm also incredibly proud of the performance the players put in today."
Middlesbrough's Michael Carrick:
"The biggest thing I can say is that hopefully it will prove to be an important point at the end of the season.
"It was a good point in the circumstances. Coming here with the type of game it was going to be, conditions and the pitch, it was just different types of challenges.
"It wasn't pretty, it wasn't a classic, but there were good things in the game.
"A new back four, to deal with that in the extremity of the way the games goes and direct play, long balls, I thought once we settled into it we dealt with it well.
""I'm pleased with the attitude and the mentality and the way we had to adapt in the game.
"We thought we could be a little bit more effective going forwards if I'm honest.
"It was difficult, the pitch was so dry and bobbly, so to create in the way we like creating was challenging. I thought we might have nicked it towards the end but we'll take the point."
