Bradley Ihionvien rescued a late point for the U’s against Luton Town in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy on Saturday afternoon.
Devante Cole put the visitors ahead with just minutes left of the tightly contested match at the JobServe Community Stadium but a flurry in the Hatters’ box shortly after gave Ihionvien the chance to equalise and open his scoring for the season. After winning the penalty shootout, Luton were awarded the extra point.
Danny and Nicky Cowley once again put out a changed side in this competition, with injury forcing them to keep Thimothée Lo-Tutala in goal. Ellis Iandolo, Frankie Terry, Paul Digby, and Sam Kuffour Jr made up the back four, with Ben Perry and Ronnie Harvey returning to the midfield. The wide areas consisted of Beryly Lubala, making his first start for the U’s since returning, and Moses Sesay, with Kylian Kouassi and Oscar Thorn up front.
It was the visitors who enjoyed the early sights of goal. A header at the back post from a controversial corner forced Lo-Tutala into action early, but the goalkeeper made a routine punch out of his box.
Soon after, Luton’s Tudor Mendel got the better of Iandolo on the left of the box and cut inside to curl a shot towards the top left corner, but the ball bent wide and over.
The U’s grew into the half with Thorn starting to cause concern for the Hatters. Being played through by Sesay or Harvey, Thorn repeatedly drove to the byline and cut the ball back into the box, with the home side just missing the end product.
Nearing the end of the first half, the Us recycled the ball after Luton cleared a corner and found Sesay on the right wing. Dancing past his marker, he drove into the box and played the ball across but both Lubala and Kouassi narrowly missed connecting with the ball.
The final chance of the half fell to the U’s. Lubala picked up the ball centrally about 25 yards from goal, took it around a Luton player and fired a shot towards James Shea in goal, but it flew over the bar.
Just minutes into the second half, Lo-Tutala pulled off a fine save to keep the U’s level. With a fortunate bounce taking the ball between Digby and Terry, Luton’s Jordan Clark was through on goal. He shaped to curl the ball into the bottom-right corner but Lo-Tutala darted off his line to make himself big and stop the ball with his out-stretched left leg.
But Clark’s attempt was the first in a series of chances for Luton that made the U’s suffer at the start of the second half. After a good passage of play, the ball fell to right-back Harrison Ashby but he sent his shot wide of the far post, despite sending Lo-Tutala scrambling across his line.
Devante Cole then had his first chance of the match. Ashby caught the U’s out with a quick cross into the box and Cole brought the ball down and swung on the spot to release an effort at goal, but Digby stood firm to deflect the ball out for a corner.
Although Luton had started fast, Col U looked close to opening the scoring. Kuffour Jr turned his marker on the right and sent Thorn into space on the wing. With his head up, Thorn picked out the late run of Lubala towards the penalty spot. The winger collected the ball unopposed and tried to bend a shot into the right side netting, but he failed to connect with the ball properly and Shea dived to make the catch.
The second half played out mostly as a highly contested battle across the middle of the park until the final minutes of the 90.
Luton’s Emilio Lawrence beat Kuffour Jr for the first time since coming on and it proved costly. Getting to the byline, Lawrence drilled the ball across the box and Cole got in front of his marker to turn the ball past Lo-Tutala, thinking he had found the winner for his side.
However, with the clock about to tick to 90, the U’s found their equaliser through substitute Ihionvien. Kien Connolly, also sent on to bolster the U’s attack, did well to win a header from a corner. Jack Tucker kept the attack alive and fired a shot towards goal but a deflection sent it hurtling across the line. Ihionvien was then on hand to divert the ball into the net from a yard out.
The full time whistle means that the sides were awarded a point each but, per competition rules, a penalty shootout would decide which team would take an extra point.
Unfortunately, the U’s fell to a 3-4 loss in the shootout, with Ihionvien, Digby, and Jaden Williams converting but Terry and Connolly having theirs both saved. Jordan Clark, Cole, Jake Richards, and Mads Andersen scored for Luton, with Lo-Tutala’s save to deny Dan Gore proving not enough.
The U’s return to Sky Bet League Two action next weekend where Danny, Nicky, and the squad will look to build on the point away to Shrewsbury last weekend.
Attendance
2,549
starting XI
Lo-Tutala, Iandolo (61'), Terry, Digby, Kuffour Jr, Perry (61'), Harvey, Lubala (61'), Sesay (71'), Kouassi (71'), Thorn
Subs