Hatters boss hits out Blackburn's 'theatrics' that turned 1-0 defeat into a 'charade'

Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield was left frustrated by the theatrical behaviour of Blackburn Rovers skipper Lewis Travis which he felt turned yesterday’s 1-0 defeat at Kenilworth Road into something of a ‘charade’.

With the visitors leading 1-0 courtesy of Yuki Ohashi’s goal just seven minutes after the interval, the Japanese international racing through to beat Thomas Kaminski, Valerien Ismael’s side were then reduced to 10 men moments before the hour mark, when Kristi Montgomery picked up a second booking in quick succession after pulling down Milli Alli.

Shortly afterwards, when Rovers had a throw-in, Luton midfielder Jordan Clark gently under-armed the ball to Travis which hit him around the shoulder area, only for the 27-year-old to throw himself to the floor feigning injury in what was a truly embarrassing moment for the long-serving midfielder. Having already seen yellow for yanking down Izzy Jones in the first half, the Blackburn captain could well have been shown a second caution from referee David Webb for his play-acting.

However, that didn’t happen, with Travis also pointing to the Hatters supporters as he slowly, and finally, got to his feet, signalling they were ‘going down’. Team-mate Tyrhys Dolan quickly saw yellow for not taking a corner, as referee Webb struggled to keep control on proceedings, with visiting goalkeeper Balázs Tóth also booked for time-wasting late on too.

Asked if he thought a second yellow should have been shown, Bloomfield said: “There was a lot of theatrics going on today which makes it frustrating. There was nine (minutes) added on, it could have been double that I think, but there was a lot of theatrics going on and it makes a slight charade of the game at time, but it goes on a lot."

Town’s fans and players were also calling for an offside flag that never came early in the second period when Ohashi went through to face Kaminski and dink past the Belgian international. Asked if he thought the goal should have been disallowed, Bloomfield added: “I haven’t seen it back yet. It looked close, and listen it’s done, we have to focus on ourselves and have to do better.”