Turgid Hatters see their survival hopes suffer a massive blow with Rovers loss

Luton served up one of their worst performances of Matt Bloomfield's reign at just the wrong time as they suffered what could be one of the final nails in their Championship coffin when beaten 1-0 by a horrifically out of form Blackburn Rovers this afternoon.

With the Hatters on a five game unbeaten run themselves and the visitors, who had never triumphed during a league game at Kenilworth Road in their history, also having failed to win in their eight, this was the match where the Hatters were meant to seriously ignite their hopes of staying up with a comfortable victory.

However, no-one seemed to tell the players that was the case, as they turned in a display that was lacking in any real intensity, desire or belief, as their inability to score on home soil came back to bite them yet again, with 18 shots, but only three on target, visiting keeper Balazs Toth barely having to work for an easy clean sheet.

Town even had the luxury of playing the final 38 minutes against 10 men when Kristi Montgomery was sent off after picking up two quickfire yellow cards, but the numerical advantage didn't ever appear obvious in that time, Rovers holding on to the three points with a growing ease. Having made one change to the side who drew 1-1 with Stoke on Tuesday night, point-saving hero Milli Alli in for Alfie Doughty, whose season is officially over after his hamstring injury, it was Rovers who had the first real attempt, Yuki Ohashi with a neat step-over to bamboozle Amari'i Bell, but fire over.

Having impressed against Middlesbrough and Leeds in their last two home matches, the hope was that Town could replicate that kind of display when it mattered the most, but they just didn't, failing to create anything of note, until Thelo Aasgaard's low drive cannoned away off a visiting defender midway through. The frustrating nature of the contest continued, Alli unable to get going on the left hand side, with Tahith Chong struggling as well, as Luton's insistence to go long just isn't his game at all, meaning it was a fairly dismal spectacle for the home fans.

Town did finally threaten on 42 minutes, Jordan Clark whipping in a free kick that was met by Mark McGuinness who got too much on his header as it flew over. Alli then summed up his efforts in the opening period as found by Bell, with space to run into, he opted to shoot ambitiously from 30 yards, dragging tamely wide. After the break, Town then got off to the worst possible start as Ohashi was sent clean through by Ryan Hedges with 52 minutes gone, dinking over the advancing Thomas Kaminski, the home players and fans screaming for an offside flag that never came.

Town instantly made a triple substitution, Teden Mengi on for his first action since November 30, while Reece Burke and Josh Bowler replaced Christ Makosso, Izzy Jones and Chong. They were then given a significant helping hand on 58 minutes as a ball forward saw Montgomery, who had already been booked, tangled with Alli on the left and when the attacker went to ground, referee David Webb brandished a second caution which saw the teenager sent off on his full debut.

Clark put the resulting free kick over on the angle, as the already booked Lewis Travis then started a period of timewasting, feigning injury when Clark simply under-armed the ball back at him to take a throw, going down as if he had been shot, only for referee Webb let him off. The Hatters still couldn't open up the visitors' defence though, Bowler curling waywardly when some space opened up, something that was going to become a theme in the closing stages.

When they did get it right though, they unfortunately denied a leveller by the woodwork on 76 minutes, Aasgaard setting off on a superb run, drifting past three Rovers players as if they weren't there, unleashing a wonderful blast that beat Toth all ends up, but smashed against the underside of the bar and unfortunately bounced the wrong side of the line for the Hatters.

After his heroics from last week, Alli tried again to repeat the feat when played in on the angle, but alas on this occasion it was a terrible effort, slicing woefully into the Kenny End. Burke cut into in on his left foot, but having curled in a beauty against the same opposition a few years back, could only put this one straight at Balazs Toth, in what was at least finally a shot on target.

Alli then got it all wrong again, skewing wide, as did Aasgaard when he was found by a short corner routine. With nine minutes added, cheered more in faint hope than any kind of realistic expectation from the home support, the fourth of them saw Clark's corner glanced wide by McGuinness. Rovers might have added to their tally, when Tyrhys Dolan broke away on the right and went for goal rather than the corner flag, Kaminski repelling ungainly.

Town went on to dominate possession, but, as has been their main issues all season, were out of ideas when it came to the final third, Alli letting fly yet again, seeing his cross-shot take a nick which left Toth rooted to the spot, only to hit the face of the bar and bounce away. With 100 minutes showing, one final throw of the dice saw Luton push all 10 players into the box, as the ball dropped at the feet of Mengi, who had looked incredibly out of sorts once coming on, sidefooting tamely at the Rovers stopper.

Hatters: Thomas Kaminski, Christ Makosso (Teden Mengi 56), Mark McGuinness, Amari’i Bell, Izzy Jones (Reece Burke 56), Liam Walsh (Lasse Nordas 73), Jordan Clark, Thelo Aasgaard, Milli Alli, Tahith Chong (Josh Bowler 56), Carlton Morris (Zack Nelson 85). Subs not used: Tim Krul, Kal Naismith, Marvelous Nakamba, Lamine Fanne.

Rovers: Balazs Toth, Yuri Ribeiro, Dominic Hyam, Sondre Tronstad, Todd Cantwell (Dion Sanderson 61), Tyrhys Dolan, Danny Batth, Ryan Hedges (Adam Forshaw 66), Yuki Ohashi (Makhtar Gueye 78), Lewis Travis ©, Kristi Montgomery. Subs not used: Nick Michalski, Harry Pickering, Joe Rankin-Costello, John Buckley, Igor Tyjon, Amari Cozier-Duberry. Referee: David Webb. Booked: Travis 26, Montgomery 47, Dolan 67, Mengi 73, Toth 86. Sent off: Montgomery 58. Attendance: 11,552 (970 Rovers).