Preston North End 1-1 Luton Town: FLW report as 10-man Lilywhites salvage a point | OneFootball

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Football League World

·15 February 2023

Preston North End 1-1 Luton Town: FLW report as 10-man Lilywhites salvage a point

Article image:Preston North End 1-1 Luton Town: FLW report as 10-man Lilywhites salvage a point

Preston North End came from a goal behind with 10 men on the pitch to rescue a point against Luton Town with a 1-1 draw, and in-turn snapped a run of five successive league defeats at Deepdale.

The opening stages of the first half were a cagey affair, with neither side really having the resources to break down the opposition defence.


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Alvaro Fernandez tried his best on 11 minutes to make something happen as he drove down the left flank with acres of space to run into, but his low cross was mopped up by a Hatters defender before Tom Cannon could put try and put the ball into the back of the net.

It would be Luton who had the first real sight of goal though as a deflected Elijah Adebayo cross from the byline almost beat Freddie Woodman, who diverted the ball away from goal – soon after though Jordan Clark’s effort was flicked over the crossbar by a heroic header from Fernandez on the line.

A major chance then came after the half-hour mark and the visitors really should have been a goal to the good.

Luton target man Adebayo collected a diagonal ball after winning his aerial duel with Andrew Hughes, who believed he had been shoved in the back for a foul by the Hatters number 11 – nothing was given however as Adebayo went one-on-one with Woodman, only to fluff his lines and fire well wide with zero pressure on him from defenders.

There was a lively start to the second half but for all the wrong reasons as far as PNE viewed it as Ben Whiteman was given his marching orders by referee Josh Smith.

Whiteman was adjudged to have committed a dangerous tackle on Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu in the middle of the par, ended his involvement in the contest and leaving North End 40 minutes plus stoppage time to at least hold on to a point.

Just minutes later, Luton should have probably been ahead as Adebayo was slipped through on goal yet again by a team-mate, but once again he managed to mishit his effort, which went well wide of Woodman’s goal when unchallenged.

Another chance fell for the Hatters halfway through the second half as Jordan whipped in an inswinging corner, which was met by the head of Carlton Morris at the front post.

The Luton striker was only denied by the crossbar as none of his team-mates could bundle the rebound in, but he would only need to wait until the 74th minute to break the deadlock.

The away side clipped in a cross from the left wing and it met the head of Morris at the back post, and despite the best efforts of Woodman to keep it out he was unable to do so as the ball crept over the line.

Despite struggling in the first half with 11 men, North End seemed better with 10 as they went for the equaliser, and they were offered a golden chance from the penalty spot with 10 minutes to go.

Troy Parrott’s cross-cum-shot was handled in the box by a Luton defender and referee Josh Smith had no hesitation in pointing to the spot – Parrott stepped up from 12 yards and absolutely hammered the ball in via the crossbar to level proceedings with just his third goal in a PNE shirt.

And the scoreline could have completely been flipped on its head moments later as almost straight from kick-off, Tom Cannon was played through, but with pressure by his side from a Luton defender, he fired a low effort just wide of Ethan Horvath’s goal.

Luton did have a chance in stoppage time to take all three points back to Bedfordshire as Jordan Clark’s close-range header was well-stopped by Woodman, before Luke Berry’s follow-up was bravely blocked by North End defenders in the six-yard box.

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