Woodrow stars in Luton late show
EVEN when they look down and out, Rob Edwards’ Luton never know when they are beaten.
They never gave in at Selhurst Park, even as they looked to be slipping towards a defeat that would have widened the gap between them and the rest of the pack at the wrong end of the table.
There was to be reward for their resolve. One final twist in their favour thanks to Cauley Woodrow, whose second Premier League goal almost a decade after his first rescued a point in the 96th minute.
That collector’s item was his side’s 15th goal in the final 15 minutes of matches this season — a tally bettered only by league leaders Liverpool. It also helped stop a run of four successive league defeats for the masters of late drama.
‘It was an amazing feeling. I think if you asked the manager, he’d say he wished I did that every week, to be fair,’ said the Hatters’ match-winner, whose last top-flight strike also came against Palace.
‘We practised it yesterday in training. It doesn’t always come off on a matchday but I knew what Andros was going to do. Other days it doesn’t happen but today it did and I’m really happy.’
The equaliser, as late as it came, was on the cards. Palace invited the pressure after JeanPhilippe Mateta had given them an early lead with a clever, instinctive flick after Daniel Munoz capitalised on Alfie Doughty’s poor back pass.
They continued to probe and Eberechi Eze almost secured the win with a moment of brilliance from the halfway line but saw his lob land on the roof of Thomas Kaminski’s net.
But with each Palace chance squandered, Luton’s belief grew a little stronger. Edwards threw on former Palace man Andros Townsend in search of an equaliser and it was the veteran winger who orchestrated the late drama.
Only a few weeks on from his late winner in the FA Cup win against Everton, there was Woodrow, repeating his trick by popping up on the end of Townsend’s cross to snatch a share of the spoils.