Luton attacker was praying for VAR to disallow Liverpool's late, late equaliser

Luton attacker Chiedoze Ogbene admitted he was left praying unsuccessfully for VAR to intervene and cancel out Liverpool’s late, late equaliser during last night’s 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road.

The hosts had looked on course for a stunning victory in front of the Sky Sports cameras when with 80 minutes gone, they launched a stunning counter-attack from their own penalty area, ending with Tahith Chong slipping the ball past Alisson Becker in the Reds goal.

With 10 to play, plus eight minutes of stoppage time, Luton had successfully navigated 15 of those, until Harvey Elliott’s wonderful cross was met by Luis Diaz, the Colombian international bundling the ball past Thomas Kaminski to make it 1-1.

A VAR check followed for a potential foul on Issa Kabore by the Reds substitute but there was nothing doing in that, and the goal was allowed to stand.

Having run himself into the ground, Ogbene was already off by then for Jacob Brown, but on what his feelings were, he said: “I was kind of praying for a VAR check, it was a clear goal, but you can’t fault the effort tonight.

“We’re going in slightly disappointed we didn’t get three points against a very good Liverpool team, but that’s how far we’ve come.

"We were happy with a point, if you can’t win you don’t lose and that's what happened.”

With over 11,000 packed into the stadium, it created a magnificent atmosphere throughout the game, the noise levels growing with every passing minute, as did the belief among the home faithful.

That was exactly what Ogbene and his team-mates had wanted ahead of the contest, as the summer signing from Rotherham added: “It was all about momentum, we're just trying to create an atmosphere here.

“We play dynamic football and we want to get the crowd on our side as not many teams know the kind of atmosphere we have here.

"The manager said clearly before the game, just to believe and believe in the gameplan and just be patient.

"In this league, it’s not just against Liverpool, whoever you come up against you need to take your moments.

"Chongy took his moment very well and put the momentum in our favour.”