Bell relieved to hear results went Luton's way in the Championship relegation battle

Luton defender Amari’i Bell was relieved to hear that a number of results at the bottom of the table had gone Town’s way following their 4-0 hammering by Burnley on Saturday.

Friday night had seen Oxford United move a point further clear of the dotted line with a 1-1 draw at Norwich City, while the early kick-off at the weekend saw Stoke City fall 2-0 behind at Coventry before hitting back to level late on. Thankfully the Potters then conceded in the eighth minute of stoppage time, as they remained within reach of the Hatters, just five points away.

The chances of Luton cutting that gap went up in smoke on 19 minutes though, reduced to 10 men after Kal Naismith was sent off for two bookings, and then conceding the first of the afternoon to Mark McGuinness’s own goal shortly afterwards. With the result never in doubt, that meant attentions began to turn elsewhere, as thankfully, they were to see Cardiff lose 2-1 at Sunderland to stay five points ahead with Stoke, although Hull’s 1-1 draw at Bristol City edged the Tigers closer to safety.

There was movement between the bottom three clubs, Derby beating Blackburn 2-1 to climb up to 22nd, while Plymouth dropped to the foot of the table, beaten 3-0 at home by Sheffield Wednesday, as the Hatters are now 23rd again. Yesterday, Portsmouth appeared to ensure they have another season at Championship level, defeating Leeds United 1-0 at Fratton Park to move to 42 points, some 10 in front of the Rams, with just 10 matches remaining.

Learning about the results when speaking to the press after the game in Lancashire, Bell said “That’s good. I try not to check the table to be fair, I try to just focus on what we’re doing, so to hear that results have gone our way, that’s good, but the focus is on us. I think that’s definitely what we all need to focus on.”

Asked for his thoughts on the contest against the title-chasers, the Jamaican international felt Town were set up to get something from the contest, before that red card for Naismith which made their task that more difficult. He continued: “Going down to 10 men puts us on the back foot a little bit and it’s always going to be a harder game for us, which was disappointing because before that, I thought we felt quite comfortable, we felt we could actually take something from the game. When something like that happens, we knew it was going to take a lot to get something from the game.

"Obviously we had to try and stay resilient and make the right decisions when we’re defending. It’s difficult against a good team like Burnley, so it just didn’t go to plan. They’ve got real good attacking players. We knew it was going to take a lot to nullify their threats, going down to 10 men didn’t help, but it is what it is. We tried to stay in the game as much as we could, which some parts of the game I thought we were great. We frustrated them a lot, but some small moments which have allowed us to concede some goals, so it’s disappointing.”

On the dismissal of Naismith, who having already been booked, made a needless attempt to win the ball from Josh Brownhill which led to his second yellow in just seven minutes, Bell said: “He will look back at himself and know it wasn’t a great decision for him, but it’s happened now, what we can we do about it? We all know what a great player he is and the quality he possesses so it’s great to have him back and we’re going to need him for the dogfight that we’re in.”

Town certainly weren’t helped the decision-making of referee Martin either, as the official got in the way of Zack Nelson when he was looking to run the ball out of danger ahead of the hosts’ second goal. He and his assistant then didn’t spot the ball going out of play when Marcus Edwards crossed for Josh Brownhill to tap home a third early in the second period, also failing to give Luton a penalty late on after Jeremy Sarmiento’s high foot on Christ Makosso inside the area going unpunished.

Bell said: “It was difficult, own goal, ball that went out. I thought he would (signal the ball was over the line), he didn’t, obviously. It’s frustrating, very frustrating and an own goal for them. It’s difficult, but we can’t do anything about it now as the game’s gone.”

Like manager Matt Bloomfield, Bell did feel there were some bright points the visitors could glean away from the contest, particularly in the second period, adding: “Even when we went down to 10 men, there was credit we could take from the game. We didn’t shy away, some decisions didn’t go our way, didn’t help our game, but I think we still stood up tall and did the best that we could.

"There’s positives that we can take. I know it’s hard to look at it right now, but there’s definitely positives we can take from the game. The boys that came on definitely got into the game and I think that’s what it’s going to take. It’s going to give the gaffer some decisions to make as they played well, so that’s what we need, we need everyone firing on all cylinders right now.”