Nathan Jones feels Luton ‘very hard done by’ after late goal is chalked off
Luton boss Nathan Jones railed against the officials after his side were denied a stoppage-time winner in their 1-1 draw with Blackpool.
After Elijah Adebayo had put the hosts ahead early on the Hatters were pegged back by Gary Madine’s second-half penalty only for Admiral Muskwe to look like he had won it in the final seconds.
However, Adebayo was adjudged to have fouled defender Richard Keogh in the build-up, a decision that did not sit well with Jones.
He said: “We’re very, very hard done by not to have got three points.
“We didn’t play well today, we weren’t ourselves but we did enough to win the game.
“We had some glorious chances, Harry Cornick had two in the first half, Cameron Jerome’s had one, Admiral Muskwe’s had one, Allan Campbell’s had a chance, we had a penalty shout and that’s a clear goal, no issue whatsoever.
“Suddenly we don’t get that and we end up drawing the game.
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“Blackpool were front-footed today, caused us a few problems, Harry (Isted) hasn’t had many saves to make, but they’re playing with freedom, four up top, it’s easy to do that when you’re 16th and haven’t really got anything to play for and we’re really at it.”
Adebayo’s 17th of the season came inside two minutes, with his cross-shot deflecting off Keogh and flying past goalkeeper Chris Maxwell.
Madine failed to convert a good opportunity from close range before Harry Cornick was denied by Maxwell and then headed over Robert Snodgrass’ cross.
The second period saw the Tangerines draw level in the 55th minutes, Dan Potts fouling CJ Hamilton and Madine doing the rest from the spot.
Town went close in the latter stages, Muskwe denied by Maxwell and Cameron Jerome also putting a decent chance wide before the incident which saw Muskwe’s goal chalked off.
Blackpool boss Neil Critchley added: “We’d spoken about their start and highlighted it, they play with high intensity and they get the ball forward quickly.
“They play a very simple but effective game, we spoke about the first 20 minutes, about how to manage it and then we didn’t do that.
“It was strange how it happened (Adebayo’s goal), we didn’t deal with the ball in the corner very well and then Keysy (Keogh) comes across and we don’t seem to get a little bit of luck as it gets deflected and could go anywhere, but it goes right into the bottom corner.
“I haven’t seen it back, but I think there was someone inside the six-yard box and Maxy’s (Chris Maxwell) there.
“Was he (Amari’i Bell) offside and interfering? It’s such a grey area, I think we need clarification on that ruling.
“After they scored I thought we were good for the next 20 minutes, grew into the game, looked really threatening and dangerous.
“They had a good chance, but we had a good chance as well, and then in the second half, again, I thought we were the team in the ascendancy.
“We got a penalty, which was a penalty, could have had another penalty when Josh Bowler went down, but I thought we stayed strong.
“We finished strong and if one team looked most likely to create a chance near the end of the game and win it, I felt it was us.”