Still blasts ‘crazy’ decisions

The official controversially adjudged Michael Harriman to have handballed inside the area, despite little or no protests from the home side.

Ricky Holmes converted the spotkick to bring Cobblers level just after the hour mark as Still said: “When I think of the penalties we haven’t got, he’s given a penalty and no-one’s appealed. He said it was for handball but I can’t for the life of me see why.

“There was nothing around it that would suggest it was anything other than a challenge, but he’s given it and we can’t do anything about it.

“I can’t control the uncontrollables, which is the referee’s decisions. We’ve had so many like that not go for us this year, penalties for us, it was a crazy, crazy decision.”

Hatters goalscorer Alex Lawless admitted he thought the decision had gone Luton’s way at first, as he said: “The view I had on it, I thought we were getting a free kick when the whistle went for leaning on Michael.

“The lads then said he’s given a handball and I don’t think anyone even seemed to claim a penalty, so that just adds to the frustration of the defeat.

“They are key decisions, but there are decisions all over that are key for getting us up the pitch and seeing a few of them go against us is frustrating, because at this moment you want to see as many go for you as possible.”

Debutant full back Lewis Kinsella echoed his team-mates thoughts, as he said: “I didn’t think it was handball, I think it was a bit unfair as he got a bit of a nudge in the back, so I’m not sure he deserved that.”

Town’s gripes with the officials didn’t end there as James Gray’s 86th minute winner came after Paul Benson had charged keeper Matt Duke’s clearance down for a throw-in, only for a goal kick to be awarded.

Both the striker and his manager remonstrated with the referee at the final whistle, as Still continued: “It’s a throw in, and I was just saying to him, he’s right there!

“I can moan about that as much as I like, but it’s not going to change the result.

“It was a long way from the goal to be fair, but it’s things like that, small margins that can hurt you.

“I felt for the players as we’ve made some mistakes in games which has led us to be beaten, but the performance was first class.”

Meanwhile, Lawless added: “I’d come off and couldn’t quite see that, but Paul being an honest guy like he is, it’s just another one and it seems to be not our mistakes which have got that.

“We’re not going to lull over referee’s decisions as hopefully they’ll go for us.”