Luton boss felt referee 'buckled' when awarding six minutes of stoppage time during Lions draw

Luton boss Nathan Jones felt referee Graham Scott ‘buckled’ under the pressure of Millwall’s bench allowing the Lions to score a stoppage time equaliser in their 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road this evening.

In a good-natured contest, although both sides made nine substitutions between them in the second period, there were no injuries of note and just two bookings, but yet six minutes were still added to the game.

Town looked like they had seen them out, only to then concede in the final 60 seconds, Math Smith heading on a cross and George Evans stealing in to beat Simon Sluga.

Jones said: “There was no injuries, just subs, and they’re saying about time-wasting, and to be fair, their staff were appealing for extra time, which is the right thing to do, no problem with that.

“I felt that the ref buckled to that because at the end of the day, we’ve been 1-0 down, sides have taken their time, they’re not time-wasting, they’re just taking their time.

"They're not going to run and sprint to take a goal kick when you’re 1-0 up with the importance of everything, and that’s what we felt.

“So where he found six from I don't know and that was the sad thing that he found six, in a game with no injuries, just subs.

"We made three at the same time and in the end that’s cost us, so we’re really disappointed as we felt the three points tonight would have been just desserts, but we have to see these games out.”

One thing that Jones was also frustrated about was his side’s decision to try and run the clock down well before it ticked into 90, with both Harry Cornick and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu turning down attacking opportunities to head for the corner flag.

He continued: “It was 86th, 87th minute in there, I wanted them to go up for the corner because ironically, that would probably take more time than a short corner, to get everyone up.

"I was very fearful towards the end that the referee was going to do something silly, that he was going to book Sluga for a second time, as I've been away and we've been 1-0 down and sides are in no hurry whatsoever, the referee's not hurrying them up, he says ‘I’ll add it on' and we got four minutes.

"So this today is something I’m really, really disappointed with, we have to grin and bear it.

"If we had just won the header, they wouldn't have scored, and that's the thing we have to look at.

“A lot of positives to come from tonight, I'm just disappointed we didn’t get the three points.”

When asked for his thoughts on Town’s tactics during the second half, Lions boss Gary Rowett added: “Firstly I've got no problems with Luton time-wasting, that’s what teams can do.

"If we’re 1-0 up and desperate for a win then we're going to do that, but I thought when the referee actually booked the keeper quite early, I thought 'brilliant, they’re going to deal with this.'

"Then they took longer, they made three substitutes that seemed like it took about five minutes as everyone went over to one side and then one by one came off.

"As you can see on the sidelines it's frustrating as all you want is a chance to get something out of the game and if we don't find that opportunity, that’s our problem and that's our fault.

"But it was a very broken, sporadic last 20, 25 minutes.”