Harford not drawn over whether Stanley pitch was to blame for injuries

Alan Sheehan and Elliot Lee both went off in the second period after appearing to get their ankles caught in the turf, while James Justin also went down, but was fortunately able to continue.

It wasn’t just Luton who suffered, with Dan Barlaser stretchered off for the hosts as well, as the Wham Stadium playing surface left a huge amount to be desired, with a huge rut running along the half way line.

However, when asked whether he thought it had anything to do with his players coming off, Harford said: “Honestly I can’t comment on that, but John (Coleman_ said in his programme notes, the pitch has been like that for 40 years.

“They can’t change that, if they want to change it then they’ve got to dig it up.

“It’s not conducive to a certain type of football if you want to play, but it’s a difficult place, and whether it was conducive to the injuries I’ve no idea.”

Writing in his notes, Coleman said: “A lot has been said about all pitches at this stage of the season making it difficult, but both sides are good footballing teams and will do their best to entertain.”

Meanwhile, midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, who starred despite the conditions, added: “The surface is so done.

“Everyone’s got their pitches, we’ve got lovely Kenilworth Road, so any pitch we’ve got to come and deal with it.

“I think we dealt with it well, when the ball had to go, the ball had to go, so got to play in the right areas and we did thankfully enough.”