2021–22 Luton Town F.C. season

The 2021–22 season was the 136th season of competitive football and third consecutive season in the Championship played by Luton Town Football Club, a professional association football club based in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. Luton also competed in the FA Cup and EFL Cup. The season covered the period from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022.

Luton Town F.C.

2021–22 season
Owner	Luton Town Football Club 2020 Limited
Chairman	David Wilkinson
Manager	Nathan Jones
Stadium	Kenilworth Road
Championship	6th[1]
Play-offs	Semi-final (eliminated by Huddersfield Town)
FA Cup	Fifth round (eliminated by Chelsea)
EFL Cup	First round (eliminated by Stevenage)
Top goalscorer	League: Elijah Adebayo (16) All: Elijah Adebayo (17)
Highest home attendance	10,140 vs Chelsea, FA Cup, 2 March 2022
Lowest home attendance	4,834 vs Harrogate Town, FA Cup, 9 January 2022
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

Background and pre-season

Main article: 2020–21 Luton Town F.C. season

See also: History of Luton Town F.C. (1970–present) and List of Luton Town F.C. seasons

After leading Luton Town to safety from relegation on the final day of the 2019–20 season,^[2] Nathan Jones guided the team to a top-half finish in 2020–21 with their highest points total in the second tier since 1981–82.^[3]

Luton Town's first-team pre-season programme began with an away fixture against Hitchin Town,^[4] before a week-long training camp at Queen Ethelburga's College in York, North Yorkshire, England, which concluded with a behind-closed-doors match against Rochdale.^[5] This was followed by friendlies away to Bedford Town and Boreham Wood,^[6][7] before home fixtures against Portsmouth and Brighton & Hove Albion.^[8][9]

Pre-season match details

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
3 July 2021	Hitchin Town	A	W	7–0	Clark (4) 30', 32', 34', 43', Bree 60', Lee 77', Mendes Gomes 85'	1,250	[4]
10 July 2021	Rochdale	N	W	4–0	Adebayo 18' pen., Burke 45', Cornick 54', Jerome 65'	[a]	[5]
14 July 2021	Bedford Town	A	W	5–0	Mendes Gomes 9', Richardson 31' o.g., Lansbury 75', Bree 89', Cornick 90'		[6]
17 July 2021	Boreham Wood	A	W	3–1	Clark (2) 74', 89', Mendes Gomes 86'	877	[7]
24 July 2021	Portsmouth	H	D	1–1	Adebayo 10'		[8]
31 July 2021	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	L	1–3	Cornick 44'		[9]

1. Match played behind closed doors

Match results

EFL Championship

Main article: 2021–22 EFL Championship

EFL Championship match details

Date	League position	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
7 August 2021	2nd	Peterborough United	H	W	3–0	Adebayo 30', Cornick 68', Onyedinma 71'	10,019	[10]
14 August 2021	11th	West Bromwich Albion	A	L	2–3	Cornick 70', Mpanzu 90+8'	23,283	[11]
17 August 2021	3rd	Barnsley	A	W	1–0	Bell 4'	12,999	[12]
21 August 2021	11th	Birmingham City	H	L	0–5		10,014	[13]
28 August 2021	12th	Sheffield United	H	D	0–0		9,774	[14]
11 September 2021	12th	Blackburn Rovers	A	D	2–2	Berry (2) 73', 90+8'	11,241	[15]
15 September 2021	13th	Bristol City	A	D	1–1	Hylton 90+1'	16,878	[16]
18 September 2021	13th	Swansea City	H	D	3–3	Berry 7', Adebayo (2) 15' pen., 23'	9,721	[17]
25 September 2021	16th	AFC Bournemouth	A	L	1–2	Kelly 64' o.g.	9,737	[18]
29 September 2021	9th	Coventry City	H	W	5–0	Adebayo (2) 3' pen., 45+7', Cornick (2) 18', 58', Berry 30'	9,805	[19]
2 October 2021	13th	Huddersfield Town	H	D	0–0		9,977	[20]
16 October 2021	10th	Millwall	A	W	2–0	Cornick (2) 11', 53'	14,227	[21]
19 October 2021	9th	Derby County	A	D	2–2	Onyedinma 48', Adebayo 83'	20,258	[22]
23 October 2021	5th	Hull City	H	W	1–0	Adebayo 17'	9,999	[23]
30 October 2021	10th	Preston North End	A	L	0–2		11,059	[24]
2 November 2021	6th	Middlesbrough	H	W	3–1	Bradley 57', Adebayo 60', Cornick 62'	9,790	[25]
6 November 2021	11th	Stoke City	H	L	0–1		10,068	[26]
19 November 2021	11th	Queens Park Rangers	A	L	0–2		15,062	[27]
23 November 2021	11th	Nottingham Forest	A	D	0–0		25,715	[28]
27 November 2021	14th	Cardiff City	H	L	1–2	Clark 64'	9,987	[29]
4 December 2021	12th	Blackpool	A	W	3–0	Bradley 42', Adebayo 54', Clark 90+1'	11,366	[30]
11 December 2021	12th	Fulham	H	D	1–1	Adebayo 62'	9,992	[31]
15 January 2022	13th	AFC Bournemouth	H	W	3–2	Kelly 30' o.g., Campbell 42', Naismith 90+7'	9,649	[32]
19 January 2022	11th	Reading	A	W	2–0	Holmes 33' o.g., Campbell 58'	9,611	[33]
22 January 2022	13th	Sheffield United	A	L	0–2		27,780	[34]
25 January 2022	10th	Bristol City	H	W	2–1	Lockyer 42', Adebayo 68'	9,202	[35]
29 January 2022	10th	Blackburn Rovers	H	D	0–0		9,987	[36]
1 February 2022	9th	Swansea City	A	W	1–0	Cornick 72'	16,598	[37]
8 February 2022	7th	Barnsley	H	W	2–1	Campbell 28', Adebayo 59' pen.	9,101	[38]
12 February 2022	10th	Birmingham City	A	L	0–3		17,292	[39]
19 February 2022	8th	West Bromwich Albion	H	W	2–0	Jerome 55', Campbell 83'	10,021	[40]
23 February 2022	8th	Stoke City	A	W	2–1	Hylton 56', Jerome 81'	18,270	[41]
26 February 2022	6th	Derby County	H	W	1–0	Hylton 67'	10,070	[42]
5 March 2022	8th	Middlesbrough	A	L	1–2	Cornick 90+6'	23,817	[43]
8 March 2022	6th	Coventry City	A	W	1–0	Adebayo 38'	16,996	[44]
13 March 2022	7th	Queens Park Rangers	H	L	1–2	Jerome 37'	10,073	[45]
16 March 2022	5th	Preston North End	H	W	4–0	Berry (2) 9', 42', Onyedinma 28', Diaby 59' o.g.	9,408	[46]
19 March 2022	3rd	Hull City	A	W	3–1	Adebayo 9', Cornick 56', Bree 72'	16,555	[47]
2 April 2022	4th	Millwall	H	D	2–2	Adebayo 33', Cooper 87' o.g.	10,069	[48]
5 April 2022	4th	Peterborough United	A	D	1–1	Hylton 49'	10,940	[49]
11 April 2022	5th	Huddersfield Town	A	L	0–2		18,379	[50]
15 April 2022	4th	Nottingham Forest	H	W	1–0	Naismith 37' pen.	10,070	[51]
18 April 2022	4th	Cardiff City	A	W	1–0	Cornick 71'	19,381	[52]
23 April 2022	5th	Blackpool	H	D	1–1	Adebayo 2'	9,843	[53]
2 May 2022	6th	Fulham	A	L	0–7		19,538	[54]
7 May 2022	6th	Reading	H	W	1–0	Cornick 45+1'	10,070	[55]

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
3	Huddersfield Town	46	23	13	10	64	47	+17	82	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Nottingham Forest (O, P)	46	23	11	12	73	40	+33	80
5	Sheffield United	46	21	12	13	63	45	+18	75
6	Luton Town	46	21	12	13	63	55	+8	75
7	Middlesbrough	46	20	10	16	59	50	+9	70
8	Blackburn Rovers	46	19	12	15	59	50	+9	69
9	Millwall	46	18	15	13	53	45	+8	69

Source: EFL Official Website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Wins; 6) Away goals; 7) Penalty points (sec 9.5); 8) 12-point sending off offences^[56]
(O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
46	21	12	13	63	55	+8	75	12	7	4	37	22	+15	9	5	9	26	33	−7

Last updated: 7 May 2022.
Source: ^[1]

Play-offs

Main article: 2022 English Football League play-offs § Championship

EFL Championship play-offs match details

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
Semi-final first leg	13 May 2022	Huddersfield Town	H	D	1–1	Bradley 30'	10,005	[57]
Semi-final second leg	16 May 2022	Huddersfield Town	A	L	0–1		23,407	[58]

FA Cup

Main article: 2021–22 FA Cup

FA Cup match details

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
Third round	9 January 2022	Harrogate Town	H	W	4–0	Adebayo 18', Jerome 50', Naismith 82', Berry 88'	4,834	[59]
Fourth round	5 February 2022	Cambridge United	A	W	3–0	Burke 16', Mendes Gomes 23', Muskwe 88'	7,937	[60]
Fifth round	2 March 2022	Chelsea	H	L	2–3	Burke 2', Cornick 40'	10,140	[61]

EFL Cup

Main article: 2021–22 EFL Cup

EFL Cup match details

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref.
First round	10 August 2021	Stevenage	A	D	2–2 0–3 pens.	Jerome 5', Muskwe 40'	3,052	[62]

Transfers

For players who left Luton after their contracts expired on 30 June 2021, see 2020–21 Luton Town F.C. season.

In

Date	Player	Club†	Fee	Ref.
25 May 2021	Fred Onyedinma	Wycombe Wanderers	Undisclosed	[63]
15 June 2021	Allan Campbell	Motherwell	Undisclosed	[64]
26 June 2021	Carlos Mendes Gomes	Morecambe	Undisclosed	[65]
1 July 2021	Amari'i Bell	(Blackburn Rovers)	Free	[66]
1 July 2021	Reece Burke	(Hull City)	Free	[67]
1 July 2021	Cameron Jerome	(Milton Keynes Dons)	Free	[68]
1 July 2021	Henri Lansbury	(Bristol City)	Free	[68]
15 July 2021	Admiral Muskwe	Leicester City	Undisclosed	[69]
21 September 2021	Conor Lawless *	(Reading)	Free	[70]
21 September 2021	Josh Williams *	(Stafford Rangers)	Free	[70]
24 September 2021	Elliot Thorpe	(Tottenham Hotspur)	Free	[71]
25 February 2022	Robert Snodgrass	(West Bromwich Albion)	Free	[72]

† Brackets around club names indicate the player's contract with that club had expired before he joined Luton.

* Signed primarily for the under-21 squad

Out

Date	Player	Club†	Fee	Ref.
9 August 2021	Joe Morrell	Portsmouth	Undisclosed	[73]
31 January 2022	Simon Sluga	Ludogorets Razgrad	Undisclosed	[74]
30 June 2022	TQ Addy		Released	[75]
30 June 2022	Sam Beckwith	(Maidenhead United)	Released	[75][76]
30 June 2022	Danny Hylton	(Northampton Town)	Free	[77]
30 June 2022	Elliot Lee		Released	[78]
30 June 2022	Kal Naismith	(Bristol City)	Free	[79]
30 June 2022	Corey Panter		Released	[75]
30 June 2022	Jake Peck		Released	[75]

† Brackets around club names indicate the player joined that club after his Luton contract expired.

Loan in

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref.
31 January 2022	Jed Steer	Aston Villa	End of season	[80]
4 March 2022	Alex Palmer	West Bromwich Albion	11 March 2022	[81]
1 May 2022	Matt Ingram	Hull City	18 May 2022	[82][83]

Loan out

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref.
11 July 2021	Corey Panter	Dundee	End of season, recalled 2 January 2022	[84][85]
13 August 2021	Jake Peck	Concord Rangers	End of season	[86]
26 August 2021	Elliot Lee	Charlton Athletic	End of season	[87]
27 August 2021	Sam Beckwith	Maidenhead United	End of season	[88]
31 August 2021	Peter Kioso	Milton Keynes Dons	End of season, recalled 18 January 2022	[89][90]
7 October 2021	Ben Stevens	Biggleswade Town	January 2022	[91]
8 October 2021	Dion Pereira	Yeovil Town	One month, terminated due to injury 14 October 2021	[92][93]
13 October 2021	Matt Moloney	Hitchin Town	January 2022	[94]
4 January 2022	Dion Pereira	Bradford City	End of season	[95]
7 January 2022	Avan Jones	St Albans City	End of season	[96]
22 January 2022	Casey Pettit	Lewes	End of season	[97][98][99]
31 January 2022	Glen Rea	Wigan Athletic	End of season, terminated due to injury 17 March 2022	[100][101]
18 March 2022	Josh Neufville	Yeovil Town	End of season, recalled 14 May 2022	[102][103]
27 March 2022	TQ Addy	Lewes	End of season	[99]
21 April 2022	Corey Panter	Kidderminster Harriers	End of season	[104]

Appearances and goals

Source:^[105]

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.

Players with name and squad number struck through and marked † left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Luton.

Players listed with no appearances have been in the matchday squad but only as unused substitutes.

Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward

Players included in matchday squads

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		EFL Cup		Play-offs		Total		Discipline
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ENG	James Shea	19	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	21	0	1	0
2	DF	ENG	James Bree	42	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	45	1	5	0
3	DF	ENG	Dan Potts	9 (1)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	11 (1)	0	2	0
4	MF	SCO	Kal Naismith	42	2	1	1	0	0	2	0	45	3	10	0
5	DF	ENG	Sonny Bradley	20 (2)	2	1	0	0	0	2	1	23 (2)	3	3	1
6	MF	IRL	Glen Rea	8 (4)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	9 (4)	0	4	0
7	FW	ENG	Harry Cornick	30 (8)	12	1 (1)	1	0 (1)	0	2	0	33 (10)	13	4	0
8	MF	ENG	Luke Berry	10 (3)	6	1 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	11 (4)	7	2	0
9	FW	ENG	Danny Hylton	5 (12)	4	0 (3)	0	0	0	1 (1)	0	6 (16)	4	4	0
10	FW	ENG	Elliot Lee	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
11	FW	ENG	Elijah Adebayo	38 (2)	16	1	1	0	0	0 (1)	0	39 (3)	17	6	0
12	GK	CRO	Simon Sluga †	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	0	1	0
12	MF	SCO	Robert Snodgrass	4 (4)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	1 (1)	0	5 (6)	0	1	0
14	FW	ESP	Carlos Mendes Gomes	2 (7)	0	3	1	1	0	0 (1)	0	6 (8)	1	0	0
15	DF	WAL	Tom Lockyer	27 (2)	1	2	0	1	0	0 (1)	0	30 (3)	1	5	0
16	DF	ENG	Reece Burke	25 (2)	0	3	2	0	0	2	0	30 (2)	2	5	1
17	MF	DRC	Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu	31 (3)	1	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	31 (4)	1	3	0
18	MF	ENG	Jordan Clark	19 (6)	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	22 (6)	2	3	0
19	MF	ENG	Dion Pereira	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0	0
20	DF	IRL	Peter Kioso	8 (8)	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	11 (8)	0	3	0
21	GK	ENG	Harry Isted	1 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (2)	0	0	0
22	MF	SCO	Allan Campbell	31 (2)	4	0 (3)	0	0 (1)	0	2	0	33 (6)	4	8	0
23	MF	ENG	Henri Lansbury	18 (16)	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	21 (16)	0	11	0
24	MF	NGA	Fred Onyedinma	14 (15)	3	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	15 (16)	3	4	0
25	GK	ENG	Jed Steer *	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0
26	FW	ZIM	Admiral Muskwe	7 (13)	0	2	1	1	1	0	0	10 (13)	2	3	0
27	GK	ENG	Matt Ingram *	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4	0	0	0
28	MF	WAL	Elliot Thorpe	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
29	DF	JAM	Amari'i Bell	40 (1)	1	2 (1)	0	0	0	2	0	44 (2)	1	3	0
31	GK	ENG	Jameson Horlick	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	DF	ENG	Gabriel Osho	16 (7)	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	19 (7)	0	4	0
33	MF	ENG	Sam Beckwith	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
35	FW	ENG	Cameron Jerome	14 (17)	3	2 (1)	1	1	1	1 (1)	0	18 (19)	5	6	0
36	DF	ENG	Avan Jones	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	FW	IRL	Ed McJannet	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
40	DF	ENG	Aidan Francis-Clarke	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
41	GK	ENG	Alex Palmer * †	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0

Players not included in matchday squads

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name
25	MF	WAL	Joe Morrell †