Luton Town picked up a first win in 13 Championship games with a 1-0 home win over Portsmouth.

Jordan Clark was the hero for the hosts as they defeated Pompey at Kenilworth Road, picking up a first victory since beating Derby in their last game before Christmas.

Success was also a first win for Luton under Matt Bloomfield, who won a league game for the first time as Hatters boss at the ninth attempt.

The win was enough to take Luton off bottom spot in the table, with Derby losing and Plymouth occupied by an FA Cup tie away at Manchester City. The Hatters rise to 22nd place in the table, with the Bedfordshire club now 2 points behind 21st placed Hull City.

The game had looked like a tricky assignment for the hosts, with Portsmouth arriving after a run of 3 wins in a row that had taken them further away from the relegation zone.

Chances were however few and far between in the opening stages, with the two sides taking time to work out ways to open up the other.

Portsmouth nearly opened the scoring for Luton, however, as an errant backpass by Regan Poole had to be covered by Nicolas Schmid before it crossed the line.

A few moments later, Luton scored first. A dangerous cross by Jacob Brown was diverted onto his own post by stand-in centre-back Marlon Pack, and in the right place to follow up was Clark, who blasted the ball into the back of the net.

It was Luton who looked likelier to grab a second goal after the break, with Alfie Doughty having a shot blocked and Schmid denying Clark from grabbing a second goal.

Portsmouth enjoyed possession dominance after the break, but the visitors weren’t able to turn that into a slew of chances to unlock the visiting defence.

The two best chances ended up falling for full-back Connor Ogilvie, who had the visitor’s only shot on target in the whole game with a looping header denied by Thomas Kaminski and a later effort from a Christian Saydee cross that barely cleared the top of the crossbar.

Both sides would have late penalty appeals rejected, but the Hatters ground out the success that they hope can be the springboard for their ambitions of avoiding back-to-back relegations.

Luton face a challenge in the pursuit of back-to-back victories next time out, as they travel to play promotion chasing Burnley next Saturday, with a big match away at fellow strugglers Cardiff City coming three days later.