Luton Town claimed their first-ever Premier League point in a 1-1 draw against 10-man Wolverhampton Wanderers at Kenilworth Road.
Carlton Morris’s controversially-awarded penalty cancelled out a fine Pedro Neto opener for Rob Edwards’s side, who played with an extra man for most of the contest as Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was sent off in the first half, but the Hatters would be forced to accept just the one point rather than the three that their efforts warranted.
Despite suffering a second-half collapse in their defeat to Liverpool, an unchanged Wolves XI emerged onto the Kenilworth Road turf, while Luton boss Edwards brought in Alfie Doughty and Chiedozie Ogbene for Tahith Chong and Mads Andersen.
From the first whistle, the Hatters faithful were treated to aggressive attacking football from their side, with Ogbene in particular terrorising the Wolves backline, and they were highly unfortunate not to be ahead with 10 minutes on the clock.
Luton striker Morris was afforded time and space to get his shot away from the edge of the box, and Jose Sa could only stand and watch his curling effort smack the crossbar as Wolves survived by the skin of their teeth.
Edwards’s side already had seven shots next to their name by the 25-minute mark, although they soon began to run out of steam, allowing Wolves to compose themselves and enjoy some periods of possession.
However, the visitors then needlessly went down to 10 men in the 36th minute, as Bellegarde – who ran Liverpool ragged on his debut last weekend – kicked out at Tom Lockyer following a tangle of legs on the ground, and referee Josh Smith had no choice but to send the Frenchman off.
Wolves still went in for a half-time breather with their clean sheet intact, and Gary O’Neil’s 10 men would make Luton pay for their glut of missed chances in the first half, opening the scoring just five minutes after the restart.
On the back of his effervescent display against Liverpool, Neto beat Lockyer to a loose ball on the right and continued his run inside before unleashing a thumping strike into the roof of the net at Thomas Kaminski’s near post.
Luton were only behind for all of 14 minutes, though, as the Hatters benefitted from another officiating decision – albeit a far more contentious one – as Smith awarded the hosts a penalty for handball against Joao Gomes.
The ball had deflected off the midfielder’s foot onto his arm as he charged down Issa Kabore’s strike, but the VAR room backed Smith’s original decision, and Morris calmly sent Sa the wrong way from 12 yards to level the contest.
Luton huffed and puffed for the goal that would propel them to their first-ever Premier League win, and the home crowd briefly thought that strike had arrived through Ogbene in the 89th minute, but the flag quickly went up for offside against the Irishman.
Despite getting off the mark at the fifth attempt, Luton remain rooted to the bottom of the table, while O’Neil’s men sit 15th, leapfrogging Bournemouth thanks to their hard-earned point.
EFL Cup third-round clashes at lower-tier opponents are next up for both sides, as Luton travel to Exeter City on Tuesday, while Wolves will trek to Portman Road to meet Ipswich Town.
