ISMAEL’S BAGGIES HOLD ON
WEST BROM boss Val Ismael reckoned a 15 minute injury stoppage put a halt on his side’s momentum as the Baggies almost squandered a three-goal lead.
Albion dominated for an hour and looked every inch promotion candidates – as Ismael declared his players to be “simply brilliant”.
But then they crumbled in the latter stages as Luton staged a fightback which came close to earning them an unexpected point.
An own-goal from Hatters skipper Kal Naismith after just five minutes set the tone for what was to follow as he headed a Darnell Furlong throw into his own net.
Ismael’s side took control after that and saw a string of chances go begging before Callum Robinson
(right) nodded in from close range as
Luton failed to deal with Alex Mowatt’s inswinging corner.
It looked all over after 66 minutes when
Karlan Grant scored his first Hawthorns goal after holding off Naismith before finding the back of the net.
But then the game was held up so that Luton’s Jordan Clark could receive extensive treatment following a clash with returning Albion goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
It was a full 15 minutes before play could restart as Clark was taken off on a stretcher suffering from concussion.
Luton boss Nathan Jones said:
“He was too brave for his own good.”
But that sparked a Hatters revival and they made the most of two errors to play their way back into the game.
An attempted clearance by Conor Townsend was charged down by Allan Campbell and the ball fell to Harry Connick who netted with ease.
Then a mix-up in added time between Johnstone and Kyle Bartley let in Pelly Mpanzu to grab Luton’s second.
Albion held on but Ismael (above) says he knows the reason why his side fell away near the end.
“It was nothing to do with tiredness, the injury stoppage killed our momentum,” he said.
“When you have half-time, then another 15 minutes break, it stops you.
“We had to embrace the battle and we didn’t. After the restart, we made a mistake and it was another game.
“We will analyse why we made things so difficult for ourself at the end.
“I felt that, for an hour, it was simply brilliant. This is what I want.”
The Hatters boss praised his side’s comeback – but says it was too little, too late. Jones said: “Imagine if we’d played like that for the 90 minutes.
“We didn’t even weather a storm to start with, we just wilted – it was embarrassing the way we allowed West Brom to play.
“That can’t happen and it’s something I’ll be addressing. We lost every battle and when you go three goals down at a place like this, you make life difficult.
“You’ve got to do the basics and we didn’t.”
WEST BROM: Johnstone 7; Bartley 6, Clarke (Ajayi 84th) 8, O’Shea 7; Furlong 8, Livermore
7, Mowatt 7, Townsend 6; Diangana 7, Robinson (Phillips (71st) 6) 7; Grant (Zohore
(71st) 6) 7
LUTON: Sluga 5; Bree 5, Osho 5, Naismith 4, Bell 5; Clark 6 (Muskwe (62nd) 7), Campbell 6 (Kioso (74th) 7), Mpanzu 7; Cornick 7, Adebayo
5 (Jerome 89th), Onyedinma 4 (Lansbury
(46th) 7)
STAR MAN: Darnell Furlong
REF: T Robinson