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Luton Town won just their fourth league game on the road all season after a 1-0 victory over Derby County at Pride Park for Matt Bloomfield’s side.
A defeat could have been terminal for Luton, but they won the six-pointer in a must-win game to ease their relegation fears ahead of the final three games of the run-in.
Back-to-back relegations remain a distinct possibility with difficult outings to come for the Hatters. Derby could’ve closed in on safety with a win, which a number of neutrals and pundits expected Derby to do, but a win reels them back in.
Relegation would have then been closer to a reality for a Luton side which would see it cost them £4.5 million, but Matt Bloomfield and co. stepped up to be the man against the Rams.
A physical battle was to be expected from Eustace and the visitors, who needed a response from the disappointment of the defeat to Blackburn and to prove recent supercomputer projections wrong.
Matt Bloomfield reacts to Luton Town win over Derby County
Eustace called for calm post-match but our player ratings reflected a below par performance against a resurgent Luton side and Curtis Davies had some choice words for the hosts.
Bloomfield also spoke to Sky Sports post-match for his reaction, he said: “As we said before the game, there is still work to do. Nothing is decided. Obviously, we’re still in there, still fighting, still scrapping for our survival, and we’ll keep doing so.
“I thought we were excellent first half. We defended our box well. We knew we would need to do that. The first goal was always going to be crucial in a game such as this. We got ourselves ahead and I thought we could’ve had two or three in the first half.
“I thought we were excellent — for an away performance. Obviously, second half it was going to change slightly. The pressure came but we stood up to it and defended our box incredibly well. We tried to get as many big defenders onto the pitch as we could because we knew what was coming. I am incredibly proud of the players today.
“Hopefully, that will give us a little bit of belief and confidence back in front of goal from set-piece situations. Three more games to go and if we can score a couple more from set-piece situations, that’ll certainly help.”
On Mark McGuinness’ player of the match performance, he added: “He’s been fantastic for us, since he’s gone to the middle of a back three he’s been absolutely immense. Big character. Big leadership. I thought he was absolutely excellent. To a man, I thought we were immense.
“If we don’t get results it’s just my words saying we’re growing as a group. I’ve seen it for the last couple of months. Results have been building, especially away from home. We’ve been in good form. Of course, there were going to be moments. It was never going to be a free flowing game of football today. But as a group, we defended our box.
“I think we’ve had a little bit of momentum for a while now. We spoke during the week about having the momentum and not letting last week’s result against Blackburn ruin what we’ve been building. I thought we came out the traps today and we’re excellent. Take this in isolation. Today is done and dusted. There’s lots more work to do. We won’t get carried away.”
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Luton Town’s form since Matt Bloomfield’s arrival
Having drawn three and lost five of their first games under Bloomfield, they have lost just two of the last nine and hit form at just the right time at the business end of the season.
That includes four wins in that period as well, making survival very much possible with three games to play. They will need some results to go their way but there is every chance that their momentum and confidence carries them through.
They don’t come much tougher than the above games, mind. But Bloomfield has breathed new life into this Luton side. It’s going to be tight and nervy from here but Luton supporters can be proud of their side again.