Dave Challinor lauds Ollie Norwood after earning Stockport point at Luton

Stockport manager Dave Challinor wasn’t surprised to see midfielder Ollie Norwood rescue his side a point with an impressively disguised free-kick during the 1-1 draw at Luton.

The hosts had led through Emilio Lawrence’s first-half goal only for the former Northern Ireland international to catch Town goalkeeper Josh Keeley out at his near post with 12 minutes left.

Challinor said: “He’s done it before, so it’s not like we’re overly surprised, but it comes off the back off two really good deliveries in the first half which were our best two chances.

“We thought the game would be tight, we thought set-pieces would be important, Luton have scored eight out of their last 10 goals from set-pieces and this league this year it has become even more focused on that.

“I was disappointed with our first-half performance as the game dictates that you might have to do certain things in a game.

“The pitch was lively, we were playing against a team who were willing to run forward and we weren’t willing to run back with them.

“The first half was nowhere near good enough, second half, massive credit to them as we were much, much better.

“We had much more control, limited them to very little, and had moments ourselves and deserved the point.”

With Luton needing the win more for their play-off hopes, they pressed first and Kasey Palmer’s shot flicked the post, before Keeley saved well from Ethan Pye.

On-loan Manchester City youngster Lawrence smashed home a terrific first senior goal on 28 minutes from just outside the box, but after the break there were precious few chances, Kal Naismith’s header touched over by Corey Addai.

County then levelled with 12 to go through Norwood and Luton boss Jack Wilshere said: “We did a lot of good things.

“I thought first half we were excellent, what we wanted to do, how we wanted to start, be on the front foot, be aggressive, attack, get the fans involved, which they did, and then we had to take one, maybe two of those opportunities we created.

“Second half we didn’t quite get going, we have to use the ball better, but I thought we defended really well.

“We spoke after the Exeter game to the group about when we can’t be aggressive, we can’t be in a high press, we have to be really compact, have to make it really difficult for teams and we did that.

“They had the ball a lot in the second half, but they didn’t really threaten us.

“I can think of one set-piece, so a lot of positives to take, a lot to like, but so frustrating we didn’t get the three points.”