Kevin Blackwell’s first home game in charge of Luton did not bring the three points he had hoped for as loss of concentration allowed Southampton to score twice on the stroke of half time.
Strikes from Jhon Viafara and Marek Saganowski were enough to prise the points from the Hatters.
With loan players Runstrom and Carlisle having returned to their clubs, and Leon Barnett out with a hamstring strain, Kevin Blackwell could certainly have done without David Bell turning up with gastric problems on Saturday morning and Sol Davis pulling a calf muscle in training on Friday.
The lack of fit players forced the new manager to play Lewis Emanuel, who is well below fitness after a viral illness, and to drop Heikkinen into the back four alongside Chris Coyne with Foley at right back.
Continuing with the 4-1-4-1 formation which looked defensively stronger at Burnley, Keith Keane played the holding role.
Ahmet Brkovic returned to the team for his first start since before Christmas.
On paper it was no time to be playing Southampton who crashed 6 past Wolves at Molineux last week and with Saganowski scoring for fun at the moment.
However, the formation was looking solid and although Luton showed very little attacking threat, neither did they often look like conceding.
Guthrie wasted a chance when he fired wide from a good position and Wright blasted a shot wildly over the bar when he might have done better but as half time approached it appeared that Luton were to go in deservedly level.
Unfortunately the old concentration problems returned to undo all their good work of the previous forty minutes.
Guthrie was given too much time on the ball and he found Viafara on the edge of the area and he was allowed to turn and drill a firm shot past Brill’s dive to his right. If that was not scant reward for a resilient defensive performance up to that point, one time Luton loan target Leon Best flicked on a route one ball out of defence and Saganowski hit the ball sweetly on the turn to double the away side’s lead.
Predictably, Blackwell opted for a far more attacking method after the break, with Calvin Andrew and Besian Idrizaj coming on and a 4-4-2 formation employed.
It almost bore fruit immediately as the ball was cleared to the edge of the area and hooked back in for Andrew to head on into the 6 yard box. Unfortunately, Talbot was quite clearly offside as he turned to prod it intot he net.
Saganowski put the ball in the Luton net again, but had climbed all over Heikkinen and the referee who missed very little all afternoon was quick to penalise him and rule out the goal.
Five minutes later, the assistant referee again ruled Talbot offside when good work by Brkovic and Spring saw Talbot head home. Once again, the official had it right.
Luton were making more chances than Southampton and looked as though they might just get back into the match but Spring had no luck with a snap shot which went narrowly over the bar, before the very useful Guthrie found Viafara on the break and he clipped the outside of the post.
If Luton had not yet come to the conclusion that it was not going to be their day, it was hammered home to them when Brkovic hit the inside of the post only to see it cannon into the arms of Bialkowski on the other side of the goal.
There were few chances of note in the final fifteen minutes and another three points left Kenilworth Road with the visitors.
Manager Rating
I like what Kevin Blackwell is trying to do with the poor resources at his disposal. It looks as if the game is up for this season, and he came to the job too late to change any personnel but I believe he will be the man for the job next season.
