Luton 2-3 Aston Villa: Sub Lucas Digne heads home late winner for visitors after blowing two-goal lead to boost top-four hopes… with Hatters four points from safety after defeat

Come the end of the season, it is nights like this one that could have Rob Edwards ruing what might have been. Aston Villa were by no means dominant, but Lucas Digne’s 89th-minute winner off the bench brought the 10,000 home fans in at Kenilworth Road crashing back down after their side’s second half fightback.

At half-time the hosts looked set for home defeat number nine, an Ollie Watkins double putting Aston Villa in the driving seat, but a comeback featuring Tahith Chong, Carlton Morris and, of course, those Hatters supporters had the hosts heading for a thoroughly deserved and well-earned result.

But with a massive point there for the taking, Unai Emery’s substitutes combined, Moussa Diaby putting it on a plate for Digne to secure three points that both consolidated his side’s Champions League push and crushed the hopes of his opponents.

It was not exactly the start either manager will have wanted, both seeing players hobble off for the treatment table. Amari’i Bell lasted four minutes for the hosts, before Jacob Ramsey followed 25 minutes later.

Watkins – who else? – was the thorn in Luton’s defence throughout. While Teden Mengi had dealt admirably with that threat in the first 24 minutes, the England international could not be kept quiet for long.

Lucas Digne scored a dramatic late winner as Aston Villa boosted their top-four hopes

After earning the corner himself and forcing a stunning block from Mengi, Watkins climbed highest from the delivery to thump Villa’s first into the top corner, Thomas Kaminski rooted to the spot. The Hatters crowd were silenced for the first time on the night.

The hosts seemed convinced that No one was their best route to success, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Their greatest successes in the early stages came down the left through substitute Chiedozie Ogbene’s quick feet, yet the aerial assault continued.

It will have served as a double blow then for Edwards when the visitors got their second of the night through the exact same ploy. Douglas Luiz took a free-kick quickly on the halfway line lofting it into the path of Watkins.

VAR confirmed he had beaten the offside trap, Ogbene trailing behind his team-mates, and Watkins was suddenly through on goal before the defence realised who they had let slip behind their lines. Naturally, the forward finished his 16th league goal of the season emphatically past Kaminski to double the lead inside 40 minutes.

It was by no means one-way traffic – Ogbene waited for his moment to put in a pin-point cross which found its way to Andros Townsend, but the veteran could not get his effort on target as it flew agonisingly over the bar.

Watkins stayed high, in theory limiting his influence on the game, but if this game had a star it was undoubtedly him. If not for a certain Mr Kane, there is no doubt the Villa star would be leading the line in Germany.

Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins scored a first-half brace against Luton on Saturday

Watkins opened the scoring with a deft header in the 24th minute at Villa Park

Watkins took his season’s tally to 22 goals by slotting home the second in the 38th minute 

Two down at the break and seemingly headed for defeat number 16 of the season, the hosts made a rapid start to the second half. And while their intent did not necessarily translate into goals on the board, it certainly woke up their all-important secret weapon.

Not that the crowd had turned against the Hatters in the slightest, but the suckerpunches dealt by Watkins had left a mark. Ross Barkley steering the ship from midfield saw greater fluency to the hosts’ attacking play, and it earned them a flurry of set-pieces early in the second half.

Suddenly the long balls were finding orange shirts, crosses had that little bit more venom to them, and the hosts were asking questions of Emiliano Martinez with more regularity. How they missed top scorer Elijah Adebayo though, with Issa Kabore firing cross after cross into a dangerous area, only to end up fruitless.

Finally, after 20 solid minutes of pressure, the hosts halved the deficit through one of those set-pieces, this time a corner. It wasn’t pretty, but they all count, as Edwards will have thought to himself. Chong was the man on the spot to poke it home after an almighty scramble, and Kenilworth Road surely provoked a spike on any nearby seismometer.

If it didn’t, then it wasn’t long to wait for the next earth-shattering roar greeted Morris’ equaliser. It was beginning to look like a night of what-ifs and maybes, but the skipper delivered when called upon.

Tahith Chong gave Luton hope with a goal after a scramble in the box in the 66th minute

Carlton Morris equalised in 72nd minute with controlled volley from Alfie Doughty’s free-kick

The centre forward was forced to chase long balls for most of the night, but with less than 20 to go he took his chance, once again from a set-piece, which arced through to Morris inside the box who made the equaliser look easy, tucking it into the bottom left corner.

But it was not to be. After all the hard work of getting themselves back level, Diaby and Digne combined to leave Edwards’ side with nothing to show for their herculean efforts in the second half.