Town striker quick to support keeper Moore after Blackpool mistake

Hatters striker Danny Hylton was quick to throw his backing behind goalkeeper Stuart Moore after the youngster's crucial mistake during last night's play-off defeat to Blackpool at Kenilworth Road.
Keeper Stuart Moore applauds the home fans after last night's play-off exitKeeper Stuart Moore applauds the home fans after last night's play-off exit
Keeper Stuart Moore applauds the home fans after last night's play-off exit

With 76 minutes on the clock and Luton 3-1 up on the night, looking set for a Wembley final, the on-loan Reading stopper came charging out of his goal to try and claim Mark Cullen’s searching ball into the box only to be beaten by Armand Gnanduillet’s header which looped into the empty net.

Hylton revealed the keeper had apologised to his team-mates for his error in judgement after the full-time whistle, saying: “It was a bit mad from Stuey, he’s held his hands up after the game. He came for a ball, he never needed to come for.

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“There’s no way he’s going to score from a header from there if Stu’s in his goal.

"Of course he’s down, we’re all down, as we just needed to stay calm and keep doing what we were doing.

"We were cruising through the game, they never looked like scoring, never looked like doing anything."

Despite the magnitude of the error, Hylton felt the blame should be shared among the whole side, as the striker himself missed a golden chance to make it 4-1 on the night, while Luton's defence were too easily beaten by Kelvin Mellor from the stoppage time corner that took the visitors through.

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He said: "Stu came out, okay he made a mistake, but I missed chances, it just happens that when you’re a goalie, they get highlighted a little bit more.

"He’s been brilliant the last eight or nine games, so we can’t blame him.

"He had a tricky start when it’s hard to come on loan, made a mistake in the first game he played, but when he started playing he was terrific, so no-one’s pointing the finger at Stu.

“He made a mistake, it was still 3-2, we were still in the game. We didn’t defend well enough on the last corner and it’s gone in, so we’ll have to pick ourselves up and go again.”

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Boss Nathan Jones knew the young stopper would find it hard to get over his mistake, with Gnanduillet’s header proved the turning point, breathing belief back into a Blackpool side who had previously looked dead and buried.

He dded: “Obviously he’s going to be down, it’s big error for the second goal, but that’s what young keepers do sometimes.

“He’s done well for us since he’s come in, hasn’t made too many errors. It’s just when it’s like that on Sky, it’s a big one, and he’s going to feel it, and as I said, it’s a difficult one to take.”