Luton Town 3-3 Swansea City: Swans claim point after remarkable second-half fightback

Joel Piroe scores his fifth goal of the season to earn Swansea a point

Swansea City fought back from 3-0 down to claim a point in remarkable fashion at Luton Town after a thrilling contest at Kenilworth Road.

Luton blew Swansea away in the first period as Luke Berry volleyed in and Elijah Adebayo struck twice.

Russell Martin's team looked on course for an embarrassing defeat but bounced back spectacularly after the break.

Jamie Paterson and Olivier Ntcham both scored from distance before Joel Piroe levelled in stoppage time.

Luton had seemed certain to end a four-game winless streak after dominating the first period, with Adebayo scoring from the spot and then from close range.

But after Martin made three half-time changes, Swansea improved markedly on their desperate first-half display and clawed their way back into it through Paterson's deflected shot and Ntcham's first goal for the club.

Even then they looked destined for a fourth league defeat of the season until Piroe's near-post drive rounded off a classic game of two halves.

Swansea drop to 21st despite claiming a draw that felt like a victory, while Luton are 13th after letting victory slip from their grasp.

The Hatters had needed stoppage-time equalisers to avoid defeats in their last two games, but seized the initiative here from the outset.

Swansea, as ever under Martin, tried to play from their own penalty area - but crumbled under the pressure of the home side's high press.

It took only seven minutes for Luton to make the breakthrough, with Swansea's failure to clear Harry Cornick's long throw punished spectacularly by Berry, who crashed in his third goal in as many games from 12 yards.

Kyle Naughton was then fortunate to get away with a loose pass on the edge of his own box as Adebayo fired over, but the Swansea defender was caught out once more a minute later as he tangled with Cornick and referee Tony Harrington pointed to the spot.

Adebayo despatched the spot-kick emphatically, drilling the ball high into the top corner of Ben Hamer's net.

Rampant Luton scored a fine third goal as Kal Naismith's diagonal pass sent James Bree into space and his measured cross was tapped in at the far post by Adebayo.

The former Walsall striker ought to have completed a first-half hat-trick as Swansea were undone next by a ball over the top, but lifted his shot over Hamer and narrowly wide of the far post.

Luton were very fortunate not to go down to 10 men before the half hour when Henri Lansbury clattered Ryan Manning after the Swansea wing-back had tried to slow down the taking of a free-kick.

Luke Berry volleys Luton in front after Swansea could not deal with Harry Cornick's long throw

If Swansea felt hard done by there, they could have no complaints about the scoreline, with their first chance coming - and going - in first-half stoppage time as Paterson volleyed wide after good work from Ethan Laird.

Martin sent on Ntcham, Piroe and Ben Cabango at the break, and his team rallied immediately as Michael Obafemi's volley kissed the crossbar before Paterson rattled the woodwork with a fierce drive.

Luton should have had a fourth on the counter-attack when Cornick went through one-on-one, but hit the post. It was to prove a very expensive miss.

Ntcham squared for Paterson to claim his second goal of the season with a 20-yard drive which looped over the line after Simon Sluga parried.

Ntcham then struck from even further out, thanks in part to a slight deflection, before Piroe beat Sluga at his near post in the second minute of added time.

Luton manager Nathan Jones:

"That is the way the Championship is. We're absolutely cruising at 3-0, Elijah [Adebayo] should have made it four, Harry [Cornick] should have made it four and we didn't. Couldn't fathom the end of the game, they were gambling and pushing forward, and we couldn't get a grip on the game.

"We changed and put some fresh legs on but then they scored three from outside the box and it is disappointing because at 3-0 up, you should win the game."

Swansea head coach Russell Martin:

"I am so proud of the players. The intensity, the courage in the second half to come from the worst position in football, 3-0 down at half-time and being totally dominated - I am not going to lie about that.

"To come back from that in the manner they did was incredible, outstanding. I am so grateful to the players for digging deep and sticking to what we want to be despite a realty difficult first half.

"We will learn from the first half and make sure it doesn't happen again.

"The fans - really they sucked the ball into the net. They played their part today. The guys on the bench, the staff, the way we celebrated - you can see the togetherness we are trying to cultivate."