Soccer Football - Premier League - Luton Town v Sheffield United - Kenilworth Road, Luton, Britain - February 10, 2024 Luton Town's Carlton Morris celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Tony Obrien
LUTON, England (Reuters) -Bottom side Sheffield United stunned Luton Town 3-1 at Kenilworth Road and denied the high-scoring Hatters a golden opportunity to pull four points clear of the Premier League drop zone on Saturday.
The hugely important first away win of the season, and only third victory in 24 games, left the Blades still last but level on 13 points with Burnley who lost 3-1 at leaders Liverpool.
Luton stayed 17th on 20 points and one clear of Everton, who lost 2-0 at Manchester City.
Starting as favourites for once after hitting four goals past both Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion in their last two games, the hosts dominated possession but were 2-0 down at the break.
They could have been behind in the opening minute, with midfielder James McAtee curling the ball just wide of the post.
Cameron Archer slotted the visitors ahead in the 30th, making up for a glaring miss moments earlier, after outpacing Gabriel Osho down the right side.
McAtee doubled the tally for Chris Wilder's side from the penalty spot six minutes later after a VAR check on Reece Burke's debatable handball.
Luton captain Carlton Morris sent Wes Foderingham the wrong way to make it 2-1 from another penalty given in the 52nd for handball by Vinicius de Souza but the Brazilian hit back 20 minutes later to restore the two goal advantage.
Sheffield defended impressively to hold on through nine minutes of extra time.
The result made up for a 3-2 loss in the reverse fixture in December and restored morale after a 5-0 home drubbing against Aston Villa last Saturday.
"We let everybody down last Saturday evening," Wilder told the BBC. "We answered it in a great manner...it has taken a long time to get that first away win.
"Losing 5-0 at home really stings. It's been a long week for everybody and a lot of hard work has to be put in.
"They got two fours in their last two games so they're no mugs...for us to get that win gives us a little bit of belief and a little bit of confidence."
Luton boss Rob Edwards said his side, with only one change from the lineup that drew 4-4 at Newcastle last weekend, had made a couple of costly errors.
He also felt neither of the penalties should have been given.
"When we got ourselves back in it at 2-1 we made another costly error and got punished against the run of play. They defended well, took their moments when they came. We dominated the game but didn't do enough with the ball," he added.
"We weren't clinical and we didn't test the goalkeeper enough, so it ended up being a tough day for us. We had over 70% possession...it was just things we could do better."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London,Editing by Ed Osmond)
