Clark sparks comeback win to give Luton a lifeline

THE Luton Town fairytale is most certainly not over yet. A heroic fightback at Kenilworth Road earned them a first win in 11 games to breathe new life into their battle for Premier League survival.

Jordan Clark and Carlton

Morris scored second-half goals after Bournemouth had dominated the first half and led through Marcus Tavernier.

‘I lost it a little bit, the emotion got to me but this was a big statement,’ said manager Rob Edwards of his full-time celebrations in front of the raucous home crowd.

‘It’s big. It’s hard at the moment with the number of key players injured. That’s why I love the lads in there, they’re giving us everything. There are players who have fought so hard on their footballing career to get here and they don’t want to give it up.’

Having taken just three points from the last 30 available and with a trip to Manchester City up next, this was at the very least a “must-not-lose” for the Hatters.

But in Bournemouth, they faced formidable opposition with Andoni Iraola’s side having won their past three games.

Tavernier struck the angle of post and crossbar in a 10thminute warning shot for Luton.

Six minutes later, Justin Kluivert fired against the base of the post, then curled a shot onto the roof of the net.

The Cherries deservedly took the lead in the 52 minute as Tavernier hit a superb 20-yard shot low into the corner after Kluivert had darted in from the right flank. Tavernier later went off, with Iraola confirming a hamstring injury.

Luton were lacking quality but not spirit and were unlucky not to equalise when Clark won the ball high up the pitch and found

Morris, who hit the post. Edwards revealed that Morris, his captain, had called a players’ meeting on Thursday ‘to talk about what needs to be done for this run-in and the importance of it.’

His side were growing into the game as it wore on and the roof almost came off Kenilworth Road when they scored a deserved equaliser with 17 minutes remaining.

The tireless Clark drove at Bournemouth’s defence and got a little bit of good fortune as the ball came back to him off Lloyd Kelly before he buried his shot low into the corner.

Then, in the 90th minute, Luton summoned one last push as Cauley Woodrow crossed for

Morris to side-foot home, cuing chants of ‘the Town are staying up’.

‘When you lose at the end it hurts,’ said Iraola, whose team produced a stunning fightback to beat Luton three weeks ago after trailing 0-3 at half time.

‘I understand the narrative of the game, that they are playing for survival, but every 50/50 has gone for them.’