Chris Powell Calls for VAR After Luton Town's Defeat to Stevenage
Chris Powell says Luton Town’s bruising defeat at Stevenage was “a case for VAR” in League One after two controversial goals and a red card for boss Jack Wilshere ignited tempers at Broadhall Way.
Stevenage edged a 2-1 win, but the scoreline told only part of the story. Luton felt the officials shaped the rest.
Fury over Stevenage opener
The flashpoint came early. Dan Kemp swept Stevenage into the lead, but Luton were adamant the move should have been halted long before the finish.
Assistant manager Powell pointed to what he called a “blatant” foul by Dan Phillips on Liam Walsh in the build-up. Wilshere erupted on the touchline, and his protests earned him a red card, banishing the Hatters boss to the stands and ruling him out of the dugout for the home game against Bradford City on 19 September.
“Everyone in the stadium is expecting the referee to blow, I know you shouldn’t stop,” Powell told BBC Three Counties Radio, still simmering after full-time. The whistle never came. Kemp’s shot did.
The decision left Luton chasing the game and their manager watching on from the dressing room.
“Clear offside” for Boro’s second
The anger did not subside. When Josh Magennis doubled Stevenage’s lead, Powell said the frustration turned to disbelief.
This time, Luton were convinced the flag should have gone up. Powell described the second as a “clear offside”, the kind of call that, in his view, technology would have corrected in seconds.
“They’ve scored two goals and won a game when actually they’ve had a helping hand,” he said. No conspiracy, just a sense that human error had swung a tight League One contest.
The pressure finally told at the other end. Kasey Palmer’s strike took a decisive touch off Mads Andersen and flew in, dragging Luton back into it and setting up a frantic finish. Stevenage, marshalled by Alex Revell, dug in and saw it out to climb to fourth in the early table. Luton, with two wins, two draws and two defeats from six, sit eighth and fuming.
Powell’s VAR plea
Powell did not turn his fire solely on the referee. He acknowledged the demands of the job, the split-second nature of decisions, the lack of replays. But that, he argued, is exactly why the third tier needs help.
“I get it, referees have a tough job. But surely there is an argument for VAR at this level,” he said. “It can cost teams points, it can cost people jobs.”
He pointed to the quartet of officials and the assessor watching on, and still the calls went against them.
“You just hope that the way they work, there are four of them, with the assessor, that they make these decisions. It’s just a tough one to take.”
Luton now have to absorb that sense of injustice, cope without Wilshere on the touchline, and respond at Kenilworth Road. Six games in, their season already has a familiar lower-league theme: fine margins, big decisions, and a growing debate over whether VAR should stay confined to the top or finally drop into the grind of League One.
