Luton did it for Tom Lockyer. But they also did it for themselves. After being pegged back by Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City, the Hatters finally closed out a crucial victory against a big club. They did so with a calmness and composure that belied their league position, never mind what they have been through this past week.
With his side now two points behind 17th-placed Nottingham Forest with a game in hand, for Rob Edwards this was the “most complete performance” his team had shown this season. “We’ve talked about how we wanted to do it for Tom, but we didn’t need the extra motivation”, the Luton manager said. “The players were so brave, so aggressive out of possession, and I thought we played really good football. We deserved to win, we were the better team in my opinion.”
Luton are beginning to show they belong in this division. But for Newcastle, questions over their identity remain. Out of the Champions League in painful fashion, the challenge of getting back there is growing greater. Their league position is still healthy, though the gap to the top four is now seven points, and some of the injury pressures are easing. But Eddie Howe’s men have won just one of their past six in all competitions and just once away from home in the league the entire season.
“My emotions now are just bitter disappointment, especially for our supporters and the miles they’ve travelled,” Howe said. “We’ve not given them what they want, it’s been a mixed bag away from home and we have to change that. Today was an opportunity for us, as we’d have been in a good position in the league [had they won].”
The name of Lockyer was never far away from the lips of Luton supporters, seven days after their captain had a cardiac arrest on the pitch at Bournemouth. There were supportive banners, including from the Newcastle away support, a round of applause for the duration of the fourth minute (Lockyer’s shirt number) and a carousel of chants echoing his name throughout.
This brought an undeniable intensity to the atmosphere at Kenilworth Road, an energised place even in normal circumstances. But how much it affected the players it was difficult to say, because the defining characteristic of the Luton performance was calmness. Unhurried in thought and action, the players stuck to their gameplan assiduously and backed themselves in individual moments.
Such is the volatile state of any Premier League match, however, that Newcastle should have taken the lead in the 19th minute. Anthony Gordon conjured a split-second cross and found Callum Wilson unmarked on the six-yard line. The England forward duly made his header and kept it low, but sent it straight at Thomas Kaminski before clasping his hands to his face.
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Six minutes later and Luton were deservedly ahead. It came from an Alfie Doughty corner and the noise from behind the wing-back as he struck the ball showed how keenly it was anticipated. With the ball driven at head height to the near post, Ross Barkley met it with the perfect flick, arcing it over the defenders massed in the centre of the goal and to the back post where Andros Townsend was waiting. The former Newcastle player pounced, headed home his first goal for Luton, then ran to the bench to pick up a Lockyer shirt which he held up to all four sides of the venerable old ground.
Barkley, who was purring, might have doubled the lead in the 35th minute but his audacious shot from 30 yards bounced out from the underside of the bar. A similar outcome befell an effort from Jacob Brown just after the restart. Elijah Adebayo saw Martin Dubravka deny him in a one-on-one.
Newcastle’s moment for redemption came on the hour when a deflected Gordon pass found Alexander Isak, who finished well past Kaminski. The goal was ruled offside, however; narrowly enough, but correctly all the same.
Howe must now get his team going again, while pressure builds on his position despite the startling success he has achieved in the past two years. For Edwards, who has spent this past week trying to support Lockyer and his family as he also prepared for this match, a drop zone six-pointer at Sheffield United awaits. “This has been a really challenging week for everyone,” he said. “They don’t teach you how to deal with this on the coaching courses. I’ve needed everyone around me. But today the performance was incredible.”
