Mark Howard praised after Blackpool hold Luton to goalless draw

Posted Sunday, September 23, 2018 by PA

There was little doubt that Mark Howard was the star of the show as Blackpool and Luton played out a 0-0 draw at Bloomfield Road.

Both Tangerines manager Terry McPhillips and Luton midfielder Glen Rea were in agreement – had it not been for Blackpool stopper Howard’s heroics, the Hatters could have celebrated a comfortable victory by the seaside.

Howard, who rejoined Blackpool in the summer after leaving Bolton, was in inspired form as he helped his team stretch their unbeaten run in League One to seven games.

However, that was the silver lining to a performance that failed to enthuse McPhillips.

“We did not do enough to win. In the first half in particular, I thought that they were the superior team and we did not really get going,” said the Blackpool boss.

“But our goalkeeper has played really well in the first half and made some important saves.

“We came out for the second half and improved in the second half, as we normally do, so credit to the players for that.

“We did not quite do enough to score a goal in the second half but the second-half performance was more like us, and how we have played recently.

“The first half was the worst that we have played on this unbeaten run but on the positive side, we have still come out with a point at the end of it, we do not have any injuries, and a clean sheet – and that is a positive.

“It also moves us up the table, which is another positive we can take.”

Luton man, Rea, felt that he and his teammates simply came up against opposition riding their luck.

The 24-year-old said: “It is disappointing to finish with just a point but we know as a team that on another day, we would have scored a goal or two and gone on to win the game

“I think that their keeper has done really well all game. He was really important, making saves and performing well.

“But on the whole, I think that their whole team set up well to stop us and we had chances to score in both halves but it was not to be.

“It is still nice to keep a clean sheet and we will take the positives from that into our next game.

“We have some big games coming up and we are back at Kenilworth Road against Charlton next weekend, and we are looking forward to building on today’s performance then.”

The Hatters’ Andrew Shinnie saw his low drive dealt with by Howard while he also denied Jorge Grant before superbly saving from Elliot Lee late on.