Morris scores controversial stoppage time equaliser to net Luton a point at Burnley

Town striker Carlton Morris came off the bench to rescue a potentially massive point for the Hatters with a hugely controversial injury time equaliser at fellow relegation rivals Burnley this evening.

With time running out, it looked like the Hatters were going to be on the end of a potentially crushing 1-0 loss which would have seen the Clarets, who had won just two matches this term, do the double over Luton. However, a deep cross from Alfie Doughty saw home keeper James Trafford come out to try and claim, only to collide with Elijah Adebayo and fall to the floor, Morris well positioned to cushion a header into the net.

With VAR looking at the incident and clear contact between the England U21 international and Town's leading scorer, it looked like the VAR officials would deem the goal a foul and wipe out Luton's equaliser. However, to the delight of the near 1,500 travelling fans, it went in Town's favour on this occasion, leaving home boss Vincent Kompany furious, as they moved level on points with fourth bottom, but more importantly, kept Burnley four points below them.

With Hatters chief Rob Edwards making two changes from the last league game against Chelsea, Jordan Clark making his full top flight debut, with Chiedozie Ogbene starting at wingback, Issa Kabore away on AFCON duty and Jacob Brown suspended. Town keeper Thomas Kaminski's every touch was met by a chorus of boos from the home crowd who clearly remembered his Blackburn Rovers connections, but he was being cheered by the visiting supporters on eight minutes when Town were sliced open on their left and Johan Gudmunsson was clean through.

His shot was far too close to the Belgian though who parried well, as Luton went close at the other end, a full stretch Adebayo inches away from meeting Doughty's cross. Starting to settle, with Ross Barkley finding his passing range, particularly to the unmarked Ogbene, the wingback teed up his team-mate to have a crack from 22 yards, Trafford spectacularly tipping the ball over, with one eye definitely on the TNT cameras covering the game.

Barkley to Ogbene was the option again, the latter advancing into the box and after some stepovers, fired goalwards, with Trafford parrying behind. Town remained a threat, Sambi Lokonga joining the party with a raking pass to Doughty who found Clark, the midfielder going over in the area, but nothing doing from referee Tony Harrington, little complaints from the midfielder.

With Luton by far the better side in the opening to the contest, the home supporters were clearly getting frustrated, particularly with the way they continually delayed their throw-ins. Another terrific move with Ogbene galloping away once more on the left ended with Barkley's shot blocked away as Town outplayed their hosts in every department for the opening 25 minutes.

It was almost a case of role reversal, Burnley looking a danger from set-pieces, Zeki Amdouni thankfully scuffing a loose ball wide from an inviting position, as the Clarets started to have a spell of their own, Wilson Odobert curling over and Vitinho's long throw causing real problems as they began to suffocate the space that Town's midfielders were previously enjoying.

They then made Luton pay for not making the most of their period of dominance as they took the lead in incredibly soft fashion on 36 minutes. Odobert got away from Teden Mengi far too easily and his cross deflected to the feet of Amdouni who this time made a far better connection, able to beat Kaminski to put the hosts into an undeserved lead.

Town looked to hit back, but after an excellent break by Ogbene saw Clark picked out once again, Luton unable to get their shot through to test Trafford, something that was a frustrating theme. After the break, Vitinho tried to add a second from range, this one easy for Kaminski, as he then had another crack after beating Doughty which flew into the empty seats.

Town tried to engineer an equaliser, Andros Townsend, who might have been lining up for the hosts had things been different, overlapping Clark and his header was looped up by Adebayo, Trafford taking no chances and palming over. Kaminski then did excellently to change direction midway through the half as Odobert's shot cannoned off Mengi and was dropping in, the keeper able to palm it aside, then sorting his feet out once more when the corner was met by a Clarets attacker and taking another nick on its way through.

Luton threw on Tahith Chong for Townsend with 66 gone, as Luton just couldn't replicate their first half efforts, too many passes going astray, as home keeper Trafford, whose timewasting was starting to really test the patience, wasn't overly worked.

Kaminski gathered Ameen Al Dakhil's hopeful shot, as the Town keeper, whose kicking was below par at best all evening, remained the busier, collecting Lyle Foster's snapshot. Morris was introduced with 15 minutes to go, as he had a sighter when combining well with Adebayo, swinging a left foot at an effort from just outside the box.

Odobert ran the length of the pitch only to see Kaminski get enough behind his attempt, as just when it looked like time had run out for Luton, Morris struck with his first goal since early October the 2-1 win at Everton to steal a brilliant point.

Clarets: James Trafford, Dara O'Shea, Johann Gudmundsson (Connor Roberts 74), Josh Brownhill (C) Lyle Foster, Hjalmar Ekdal (Jack Cork 90), Vitinho, Josh Cullen, Zeki Amdouni (Mike Tresor 83) Ameen Al Dakhil, Wilson Odobert (Jacob Bruun Larsen 84).

Subs not used: Arijanet Muric, CJ Egan-Riley, Jay Rodriguez, Benson Manuel, Anass Zaroury.

Hatters: Thomas Kaminski, Chiedozie Ogbene, Teden Mengi, Gabe Osho, Amari'i Bell (C), Alfie Doughty, Sambi Lokonga (Luke Berry 88), Ross Barkley, Jordan Clark (Carlton Morris 74), Andros Towsend (Tahith Chong 66), Elijah Adebayo.

Subs not used: Tim Krul, Dan Potts, Reece Burke, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Ryan Giles, Cauley Woodrow.

Referee: Tony Harrington.

Booked: Trafford.

Attendance: 20,155 (Hatters 1,432).