Bloomfield admits he 'lost it' when celebrating Luton's last-minute winner
Baptiste finds the net to earn a massive three points
Luton boss Matt Bloomfield admitted he ‘lost it’ when celebrating the Hatters thrilling last minute victory over Coventry City this afternoon that kept the club’s hopes of staying in the Championship firmly alive.
It looked like the hosts were going to be held to a frustrating stalemate in front of their own fans, having struggled to break through when playing against 10 men, Sky Blue defender Jay Dasilva sent off afters just 12 minutes for a foul on Milli Alli. However, Liam Walsh, who was denied by a stunning save from Bradley Collins, the keeper flicking his 25-yard attempt on to the crossbar, was then controversially dismissed after shoving Luis Binks, who threw himself to the floor, in the second half, making it 10 v 10 for the final 22 minutes.
Just when it appeared Town would end up going to West Bromwich Albion for the final game of the season needing to win and then hope that would be enough to survive, Izzy Jones put a deep ball into the box, which saw Collins unwisely come off his line. He only succeeded in clattering into team-mate Liam Kitching, as the ball dropped to Shandon Baptiste on the edge of the box. The midfielder, only on for 11 minutes, sidefooted goalwards, as the entire crowd held their breath in anticipation, with City defender Binks appearing to have it covered, positioning himself in front of the line.
Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for the majority of the 12,000 inside the ground, all he could end up doing was divert the ball into his own net and then comically collide with his own post as well, meaning Kenilworth Road erupted in scenes of sheer jubilation. Bloomfield did as well on the sidelines, as the result means Luton’s future is now in their own hands at the Hawthorns in seven days’ time following Hull’s home defeat to Derby County today.
Having finally recovered to speak to the press, the Town boss said: “If you're asking me to sum it up I'm going to struggle, it was a whole range of emotions and a lovely moment for Shandon. I’ve not seen it back yet and maybe it was slightly fortuitous in the way it came about, but I think we earned that in the way we’d been really knocking at the door, as even when it was 10 against 10, it was us looking likely to go and score. The lads had a real determination about them, but it could easily have not been that as we understand the game is on moments.
"Our matches have been on moments, Blackburn at home we hit the bar twice, missed a couple of chances and it reflects poorly. Today could have been that way if we don’t take that moment at the end, but we’ve been working so incredibly hard, I thought we earned that today. There was a great save from Walshy, we hit the post, one-on-one, the goalie saves as well, we had 17 corners, you think is it going to be our day?
"Then Walshy gets sent off, it’s a whole range of emotions, but the lads stayed strong, kept probing, the spirit and the togetherness has been growing for a while now and for the boys to share that moment together was very special. I think I lost it for a moment didn’t I? I don’t think that it’s easy to contain yourself in those moments because the game is about emotion. Life throws you these challenges and we’ve just tried to stay as calm as we can with our jobs here and try to think as clearly as possible, but it’s not easy to do when a moment like that throws itself at you.”
Once they had the lead, Thelo Aasgaard wasted a marvellous chance to double that in stoppage time, a heavy touch taking it out of play from Baptiste’s pass, but Luton were able to see the contest out fairly comfortably, something that has been a theme for them in recent weeks, as they were able to secure a third straight victory for the first time this term and jump above the dotted line for the first time since Bloomfield took over.
He added: “We had a little wobble ten against ten, had a slight wobble when that happened but we’ve been ahead a couple of times recently and we’ve found a way of believing that we can see it out. Maybe slightly earlier in the season when I first came in, I’m thinking of Oxford (3-2 loss), we got ahead twice and couldn't do it. In other games we’ve got ourselves ahead and not quite, but recently we’ve done it a couple of times. That builds belief and confidence that we can go and do it again.”