Chalk and cheese for those Hatters supporters who braved the ridiculous 12.30 kick-off time and the M3 / M275 to head to the south coast. After the defensive debacle of Monday, this was back to a proper Luton performance we have got greedy for in the last few years.
Amari Bell returned and the back, and boy did we look more solid as a result. And Jordan Clark recovered from missing Burnley to take his place in the midfield.
First twenty minutes or so we could have scored three. Carlton was put through by a peach of a ball from Clicker, but his shot was smothered. Elijah mistimed a header from about a yard out and saw it bounce down and then get tipped on to the bar by the Pompey man of the match, keeper Norris.
Then some moments of madness. The Pompey fans weren’t happy with the time Kaminski and Mengi were taking at free kicks. No different from what Trafford was doing on Monday – but Trafford was booked relatively quickly for time wasting.
After a goal kick took an age, the ref Busby warned the Tomas to speed it up. Literally the next goal kick, the same delay, and our Belgian was duly booked. Perhaps the card should have been given to Mengi, but it was Kaminski who had been warned.
Then a couple of minutes later a ball over the top similar to the ones Burnley had such joy with caused Kaminski to come racing out. He cleared out the first Pompey player, and just as the ref was whistling for the foul, Tomas took out another blue for good measure. A deserved second yellow and an early bath resulted.
Luton’s number one James Shea then came on, and for 60+ minutes was untroubled. Good handling from crosses notable in particular.
Elijah had a chance to win it during the second half but put his shot just wide.
For a club “back in the big time” according to their PA announcer, Portsmouth looked a bit timid. But they were playing the mighty Luton Town.
Sounds as though transfer activity is going to hot up in the next few days.
But all fans left Portsmouth with much more belief in their hearts.
#COYH
Town: Kaminski; Ogbene, Doughty, Walters, Mengi, Bell (sub Holmes 77); Clark, Baptiste (sub Mpanzu 87), Chong; Morris (sub Morris 34), Adebayo (sub Taylor 78).
Subs not used: Woodrow, Nelson, Johnson, Francis-Clarke, Chigozie.