Luton manager Matt Bloomfield finally picked up a first long-awaited win at the ninth attempt as the Hatters climbed off the bottom of the Championship table by beating Portsmouth 1-0 at Kenilworth Road.
The hosts, who were without a victory in their last 12 second-tier fixtures, came under pressure in the opening stages, Colby Bishop’s close-range prod hitting the covering Amari’i Bell and going over the bar.
Alfie Doughty had two shots blocked away from a short free-kick that was rolled into him, as Town’s best opportunity came after 21 minutes when visiting defender Regan Poole’s backpass to keeper Nicolas Schmid was overhit, forcing the Austrian stopper to sprint back and clear in the nick of time.
Town had the lead after 25 minutes though with a goal that started from their own box, full debutant Chris Makosso cutting out a free-kick and Jordan Clark motoring away from inside his own D.
The recalled midfielder eventually found Jacob Brown to his left, the forward’s cross turned towards his own goal by Marlon Pack where it hit the post, Clark reacting first to race in and bury the rebound.
Doughty almost made it 2-0 on the half hour when his low blast drew a crucial deflection behind from Poole.
Josh Murphy aimed for a leveller, getting it all wrong from range, as the visitors had their third yellow of the afternoon when the frustrated winger cleaned out Liam Walsh.
The midfielder recovered to pick out a good pass to Izzy Jones whose shot was blocked, as Clark jumped on to the loose ball and curled his attempt too close to Schmid.
After the break, Portsmouth began with a real spring in their step, half time sub Kaide Gordon’s attempt flying behind.
On the hour mark Town might have had a second though, a corner sent in by Doughty and after a scramble, Jones blasted over from the edge of the box, while Walsh had another effort blocked with Clark dragging wide on his left foot.
In the closing stages, Pompey ramped up the pressure, Cohen Bramall’s cross plucked out of the air by Thomas Kaminski.
John Mousinho’s side then wasted a glorious chance with four minutes left, Christian Saydee’s inch-perfect cross picking out the totally unmarked Connor Ogilvie who somehow put his free header over from just a few yards out.
Portsmouth also had penalty appeals turned away when Kal Naismith appeared to handball inside the area during six minutes of stoppage time, but the Hatters held on to celebrate a first three points since December 20 to breathe some much-needed life into their survival bid.
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