Late strike lifts Leeds but Luton left fuming over disallowed goal

Leeds United climbed back into the top two after a 90th-minute own goal gave them a first away win for more than two months at the expense of a Luton side who felt their efforts deserved more than a fifth consecutive defeat.

Luton levelled within three minutes after Patrick Bamford had given Marcelo Bielsa’s side a 51st-minute advantage and were denied a second goal by a linesman’s flag minutes later.

But Leeds were by a long way the dominant team in terms of possession and at times only the heroics of goalkeeper James Shea stood between them and full control. The home side defended with courage and discipline in the second half but Leeds kept probing for openings and found one right at the death. Mateusz Klitch got in behind the Luton defence on the right and drilled in a pass to the near post where Bamford showed the determination to force the ball over the line, although defender Matty Pearson appeared to have made the last touch as he tried to block.

“It was a good performance,” Bielsa said. “In the first half it was a little easier for us but in the second half we had to fight. If you don’t fight, you don’t win and we fought and played well.”

Bamford put Leeds ahead for the first time with a fine finish after defender Ben White had carried the ball forward and then picked just the pass to send his team-mate clear. James Collins headed Luton level from an Izzy Brown cross and, as the home side enjoyed their best spell, Harry Cornick then had what most of the stadium thought was a legitimate goal chalked off for offside in a scramble following a corner kick.

Luton manager Graeme Jones was happy with his side in many respects but less enamoured with referee John Brooks.

“In my opinion there was a foul on Izzy Brown in the build-up to the first goal, we should have had a penalty in the first half for a foul on Collins and Matty Pearson was onside for the goal we had disallowed,” Jones said. “The gulf [between us and Leeds] is already big enough and when you don’t get decisions like that going your way when your team has given everything, it is a difficult one to swallow.”