Ten-man Town won their first point of the Sky Bet Championship season after a 0-0 draw away to Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
Rob Edwards’ side played for over an hour a man-down on the south coast after keeper Thomas Kaminski was sent off for two bookable offences.
The Town started well and nearly got off to the perfect start as Elijah Adebayo and Calton Morris came close to giving the Hatters the lead but were denied by Pompey keeper Will Norris.
The hosts responded as Conor Shaughnessy drifted in at the back post forcing a fantastic save from keeper Kaminski before Paddy Lane saw his strike fly over the bar and into the stands.
Adebayo came even closer to putting the Hatters one up on 23 minutes; his brilliant header following a Chiedozie Ogbene cross tipped onto the bar from an acrobatic save by the diving Pompey keeper.
The Town were then reduced to 10 men when Kaminski was sent off following a second yellow card on 31 minutes. Having been booked for supposedly timewasting two minutes earlier, referee John Busby showed the keeper his marching orders for a foul outside the box. James Shea replaced the Belgian with Morris brought off for the substitute.
The Hatters held off until half-time despite chances from Samuel Silvera and Callum Lang before the referee waved away Pompey's shouts for a penalty.
There was a positive second-half start as the Town came out fighting. Adebayo found space in behind the defence having been put through by a fine Jordan Clark pass, before slicing the ball wide of the right-hand post.
Silvera would come close to giving those in blue the second-half lead for the hosts saw his left-footed shot fly wide of Shea’s goal after several persistent Portsmouth attacks.
As time ticked down, the Hatters nearly found themselves ahead late on, replacement Joe Taylor making an instant impact coming off the bench but was unable to find Tahith Chong in a 2-on-1 counterattack with 10 minutes left.
Pompey would finish the strongest but resilient defending from Amari'i Bell – making his first appearance since March – and Teden Mengi before a fantastic save from Shea following a driven shot from the centre of the box kept honours even on the south coast.
After eight additional minutes the Town could reflect on a hard-earned point in the face of adversity in a game in which, before the red card, could have seen them several goals in front.
Attention now turns to a trip to Preston next Saturday. We’ll see you there.
Town: Kaminski; Ogbene, Doughty, Walters, Mengi, Bell (sub Holmes 77); Clark, Baptiste (sub Mpanzu 87), Chong; Morris (sub Morris 34), Adebayo (sub Taylor 78).
Subs not used: Woodrow, Nelson, Johnson, Francis-Clarke, Chigozie.
Attendance: 20,293, including 2,168 noisy Town fans.
Report by James Logan
