Luton's play-off bid dented after defeat at 10 man Huddersfield Town

Luton Town’s bid to make the League One play-offs suffered a major dent as they lost 1-0 to 10-man play-off rivals Huddersfield Town.

The Terriers had been reduced to ten players when Alfie May was sent off in the first half, but a long-range strike by Ryan Ledson crashed into the back of the net, and Huddersfield duly shut Luton out to take the three points.

Defeat in West Yorkshire means Luton have lost back-to-back away matches, in a result that saw them lose ground on the play-offs. The Hatters would’ve moved level on points with the Yorkshiremen with victory, but defeat instead sees them fall to 9th in the table, six points off the play-offs.

Having had a setback in defeat at the weekend in Devon to Plymouth, Luton’s aim to pick up a first away win of 2026 took them to the Accu Stadium to take on a Huddersfield side who’d won their first game under new boss Liam Manning at the weekend.

The main talking point of a slow first half came when May was sent off in the 26th minute, with the Huddersfield striker seeing a red card for pulling recent Luton signing Kasey Palmer’s hair.

But despite having a player disadvantage, Huddersfield took the lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Ledson intercepted a loose pass in the middle of the park and decided to take aim with a strike from inside the centre-circle. He duly hit the jackpot with a strike that arrowed beyond Josh Keeley into the back of the net.

Radinio Balker would miss the Terriers’ best chance for a second when his header hit the crossbar just after the hour.

Luton would create some opportunities to equalise, with Lee Nicholls making a good save to deny Jordan Clark before Nahki Wells couldn’t get clean contact in a scramble.

But the Hatters struggled to make opportunities against the ten men, as they ran out of time and slid to another away defeat.

Jack Wilshere’s side will seek a return to winning ways in a pair of upcoming home games, with the Hatters facing Blackpool and Bradford at Kenilworth Road in their next two games.