It’s heartbreak for Kompany as Luton level late
Burnley fume after VAR controversy
HOw many more decisions will Vincent Komany be able to take? It’s another one that has gone against Burnley. Unbelievably, really.
In the 92rd minute here, Clarets keeper James Trafford was impeded by elijah Adebayo when coming for a cross. If Trafford had collected it, Burnley would probably have seen out a fourth victory of the season.
Instead Adebayo knocked him out of the way. Substitute Carlton Morris calmly headed in the equaliser and Turf Moor was again feeling that sense of foreboding, that unjust treatment. VAR looked but agreed with referee Tony Harrington that there was no infringement on Burnley’s No 1.
Kompany must be despairing. Burnley have not done themselves many favours on this return to the Premier League but they are getting no help either. A win into a draw has huge ramifications on their relegation problems.
Not that Luton’s Jordan Clark will care one jot. He turned 30 a few months ago and his path is one trodden by only a few. Down into non- League with Hyde United, through each division via Accrington Stanley and latterly the Hatters.
Fitting, poetic, that the peak of his journey — a first start in the Premier League, after a season battling ankle ligament damage — would come a few miles down the road from Accrington’s little home. Loads of Burnley fans will have gone and eulogised him at the wham Stadium, a favourite haunt of a section of this crowd when the Clarets play away.
It was there, under John Coleman, where Clark knew he could advance up the pyramid. He scored Luton’s goal in last year’s play- off final and could have a major role to play in their quest for an unlikely survival. Clark pleaded for a penalty when Johann Berg Gudmundsson stumbled into him from behind when Luton were on top in a seesawing first half.
Gudmundsson had earlier been thwarted by
Thomas
Kaminski, one of Luton’s standout performers this season, when a chance broke his way. Booed mercilessly for his previous association with Blackburn, Kaminski could do nothing about the opener nine minutes before the break.
Kompany (below) had been going spare on the touchline with Burnley not at their best. But wilson Odobert had threatened to do some damage on their left and this time defender Teden Mengi had no answer. Odobert skipped to the byline, switching gears in a way that abruptly forced Mengi into reverse, and crossed into a dangerous area via a near-post deflection. Amdouni shifted his feet, bundling towards Kaminski.
Gudmundsson made a nuisance of himself, blocking the goalkeeper, and the effort trundled over the line, with nobody quite sure who to credit the goal to.
At this point, with only Sheffield United having scored fewer goals than his team this season, Kompany won’t care. David Datro Fofana, the Chelsea striker whose loan at Union Berlin was cut short this month with just one goal to his name, sat in the stands ready to complete his temporary switch over the weekend. But given his record, it is perhaps unfair to expect Fofana to fire the Clarets away from relegation alone.
They need others chipping in more regularly and that is going to need to change quickly. Luton, though, will not have believed how this was panning out.
Ross Barkley had run proceedings, yet more evidence of his renaissance under Rob edwards. Trafford kept him out once, while Josh Cullen twice charged down the former england international’s efforts.
either one of Cullen or Josh Brownhill had to engage Barkley higher up the pitch or Amdouni drop off the front to cut supply, because Burnley had no answer. Kompany pushed Brownhill slightly further forward and Luton weren’t quite as slick.
Odobert was at it again later, jinking inside Chiedozie Ogbene before his deflected shot sent Kaminski scrambling to palm wide, while Lyle Foster went close. Then Luton chucked a cross in, Trafford was barged over and Morris helped himself.
BURNLEY (4-4-2): Trafford 7; Vitinho 6.5, Ekdal 7 (Cork 90min), O’Shea 6, Al Dakhil 6.5; Gudmundsson 7 (Roberts 74, 6), Cullen 7, Brownhill 7, ODOBERT 8 (Bruun Larsen 84); Amdouni 7.5 (Tresor 83), Foster 7. Scorer: Amdouni 36. Booked: Trafford.
Manager: Vincent Kompany 7. LUTON (3-4-2-1): Kaminski 7; Mengi 5, Osho 6.5, Bell 6.5; Ogbene 7, Lokonga 6.5 (Berry 86), Barkley 7.5, Doughty 6.5; Townsend 5 (Chong 64, 6), Clark 6.5 (Morris 74, 7); Adebayo 6.
Scorer: Morris 90+2. Booked: None.
Manager: Rob Edwards 6.
Referee: Tony Harrington 5.
Attendance: 20,155.