Luton Town 1-1 Birmingham City: Lukas Jutkiewicz nets 100th league goal
- Published
Lukas Jutkiewicz opened the scoring from the spot with the 100th league goal of his professional career
Luton Town made it four games unbeaten in the Championship as they as hit back to draw at home to Birmingham City.
Striker Lukas Jutkiewicz had put the visitors in front from the penalty spot after Elliot Lee's handball.
The hosts struck back before half-time as Matty Pearson turned home at the far post from Luke Berry's corner.
Luton went closest to finding a second goal in a game both sides had chances to win, but the Hatters had to settle for a third consecutive 1-1 draw.
The result moved Luton within three points of the play-off spots, while 17th-placed Birmingham remain six points clear of the relegation zone, four points adrift of Town.
The Blues could have stolen all three points in second-half stoppage time when midfielder Ivan Sunjic was clean through but his effort was well kept out by fellow Croatia international Simon Sluga when one-on-one.
That came after James Collins had been superbly denied by Birmingham keeper Neil Etheridge earlier in the second half.
Jutkiewicz's first-half spot kick saw him reach the landmark of 100 career league goals, 47 of which have come for Birmingham, whom he joined in 2016.
Luton boss Nathan Jones:
"Apart from one lapse and then (Simon) Sluga having to pull off a wonderful save, I thought we were totally dominant in terms of how we moved the ball, in terms of us being brave, the chances we created.
"We should've won the game, no doubt about it.
"But we're proving we're evolving, and that's such a good thing for a manager. That's the positive I take from tonight.
"In terms of performance levels, I couldn't have asked for more."
Birmingham boss Aitor Karanka:
"When Neil signed for us, I knew how fortunate we were as he is one of the best keepers in the league.
"He belongs to the Premier League and he's showing that he's one of the best.
"We knew that the pitch is narrow, they are really aggressive and really good on set-pieces.
"In the second half when they were attacking more, I had to change as I thought we needed to keep more of the ball, and we had more chances to score."