Macclesfield Town chalked up their first point of the season but it should have been so much more.
John Askey’s men out-fought, out-thought and out-passed their much-fancied hosts, but left Luton clutching just a point after a controversial equaliser.
Chris Holroyd struck midway through the second half for Macc but in the seventh minute of added-on time Luke Guttridge salvaged a draw with virtually the last kick of the game.
“It feels like a defeat,” Askey conceded. “We’ve come here and done well but as I’ve said to the players if we’d taken our chances we could have sewn the game up.
“I don’t know how it ran for so long when they’d already put four minutes up, and he said to some of the players there was a minute left and then played more than two. I suppose those things happen when you come to places like this.
“If someone had said we’d have got a point here at the start of the season I suppose we’d have been happy but the manner in which we’ve lost two points is sickening really.”
The equaliser was as heart-breaking as it was controversial but Guttridge’s goal should have been nothing more than a consolation.
In addition to a penalty claim that went unheeded, the first half saw some desperate defending from the Hatters. Although Andre Gray crashed one against the frame of the goal it had been Macc in the ascendancy and Andy?Halls – drafted in at the 11th hour for the injured Joe Connor – also found the woodwork with Mark Tyler beaten.
Without the shackles that had limited his contribution against Nuneaton, John?Paul Kissock ran the show against his former club. But when skipper Danny Whitaker slid in, Halls the advancing defender’s shot was blocked by a brave lunge, as was Kissock’s follow-up effort.
Whitaker himself was denied by a deflection when he tried to force in a first-time shot from Hall’s rebound and Steve Williams couldn’t quite direct his header from the resulting corner on target.
While Macc had enjoyed a great spell they’d once again failed to convert pressure into goals, and Luton could have turned around in front as Gray had his chance and Rhys Taylor was off his line quickly to thwart Jon?Shaw.
Perhaps Macc’s best chance fell to Scott Boden, who was on hand when Kissock’s goalbound shot was parried right to his feet but he somehow managed to turn it back into Tyler’s waiting arms.
But the goal eventually come on 63 minutes. Kissock was again at the heart of it and he skipped his way down the right of the box before pulling back to Holroyd and he swept it with precision into the bottom corner of the goal.
The striker has already fired off-target twice and should have been going home with a match ball but when he latched onto Boden’s neat chip over the defence he cleared Tyler and the bar.
As more chances came and went Macc left themselves open to a sucker-punch and with an inexplicable extra six-and-a-half minutes already played Guttridge pounced to knock in a loose ball to snatch a scarcely-deserved point for Luton.
The home supporters – giving their side no encouragement from an early stage – still went home dissatisfied, but the 80 faithful Macc fans could reflect on a far better day for them, despite the bitter sting in the tail.
MACC : Taylor, Halls, Bolton, Williams, Andrew, Kissock, Kay, Whitaker, Winn, Holroyd (Lewis 90), Boden (Jennings 73). Subs not used: Mackreth, Gnahoua, Rowe.
Luton : Tyler, Henry, McNulty, Lacey, Griffiths, Whalley, Guttridge, Taiwo (Smith 83), Martin (Howells 57), Gray, Shaw. Subs not used: Justham, Parry.
