In many way, it was good to welcome Grimsby Town to the Kenny again. They are sort of soul mates in a way having spent a good few years attempting to escape (2010 to 2016) the Conference/national League dungeon. Grimsby patiently waited a year to follow us into the conference and again politely waited another couple of years before joining us in L2; anyway, good to see them back. Another bit of trivia, Grimsby had some of notable ex-managers: Bill Shankly, Alan Buckley (brother of our great Alan Buckley) and Mike Newell once LTFC striker and manager. Another link is that Kingsley Black the tormentor of Nigel Winterburn in the 1988 Littlewoods Cup win. Pre-match was an interesting one today with trophy presentation in the Lansdown for the various league winners. Just how much of the success is based on the “brown envelope syndrome” we will never know. A couple of shots of the winners present: Firstly some trophy presentations to league winers Of course sometimes the competitive nature of these events almost spills over into violence; but size is not everything Mick and safe to say that this year’s winner of the “mine is bigger than yours” Bobbermans Cup, Tony, ducked the blow from last year’s small cup holder. Onto the match: Before the game, there was a minute applause for the late Dave Pacey, our 1959 FA Cup final goal scorer, who sadly passed away recently; nice to see all supporters from both sides taking part just as it should be. The game today I am afraid was such an incredible and frustrating contrast from the beautiful flowing passing game we played last Saturday against Wycombe. Right from the start we were finding it difficult to maintain possession and just simply gave the ball away all too easily not just in midfield but also from our defenders: even Mr dependable Sheehan from last season was all too often hitting the ball short to colleagues: not the best of afternoons all round. Olly Lee is a touch of an enigma: when we are in command and the wind is in our sails as it were, his passing and vision are a real asset but faced with a side that want to do a bit more than “lay down and die” he really does struggle and is a bit of a toothless sheep in the holding midfield role when the opposition unsportingly fight back. He had a pretty ineffective first half putting it mildly and it was no surprise that Nathan hooked Lee of at half time. Really looking at that first half I struggle to think of any real chance created: ok, there were a few thrusts from the right of our attack and Hylton gave his usual totally committed showing but collectively we produced nothing like a true threat on the Grimsby goal. To be fair to Grimsby they were just hungrier for the ball in that first half and frustratingly for all of us Hatters supporters, simply first to the loose ball time and again: oh, that is just so annoying and frustrating to see. This Grimsby urgency was seen in the opening goal where we just did not get anything like a decent challenge in as the ball ran loose in our area and eventually Bogle slotted the ball into the net. Nathan changed things at half time taking the ineffective Lee of for Rea and replacing the injured Hylton with Vassell. At least we started to look like we had some degree of urgency about us but as in the first half, dreadfully misplaced passes let us down; sort of the story of our day to forget. After some pressure, the ball ran loose to outside the area for Rea to set himself up with a very decent strike that found the corner of the net. Great an equaliser, what can we build from here? Well, sadly the “off day” continued. There were the odd glimpses of class but nothing in a joined up sense that enable us to exert some sustained threat on Grimsby. We continued to try to build and used some fairly ineffective wing play; it was just not happening! Potts was contributing very little on the left; he just looked nowhere near a wing back and in the formation that Nathan likes, effective wing backs are just so essential. Looking at the right side of our play and the contribution of O’Donnell, although I have stood up for him so much in the past, his will to improve etc, he, like a few others, had a really poor game. All too frequently SOD gave the ball away and when he did manage to get wide right, his crosses were sadly over-hit. Sorry SOD, although I still reckon you may possibly make it, that over hit cross business just drives me mad. Maybe I am being over critical in terms of Potts and O’Donnell’s contributions; you have to remember we are in L2 and if they were more effective in this wing play role then maybe they would not be with us; but there we are, us fans always have great expectations. The Grimsby winner will surely embarrass our centre backs and would be helpers. We had three men around Bogle when the cross came in yet not anywhere near an effective challenge was made on him: game over. Sadly that goal was like turning the clock back a few years to the defending of Dean Beckwith and Simon Ainge! I also spared a thought for the match sponsors; just how could they sift through those individual performances and nominate a MOM. Incidentally, I hate the concept of MOM; just the way I look at things but I suppose it’s a commercial necessity. Hopefully, this was just a collective bad day that the players and Nathan can learn form and in truth, it’s hard to imagine a sharper contrast than the performances against Wycombe and Grimsby. We will get over it, these things happen. Also, in reality, we probably have to accept that overall we are a young side and we are just going to get off days every now and again. It’s just early September and yes, it’s a set-back but a few more points to play for yet, so onto the next game. Anyway, frustrating as it was, a few thoughts on individual performances: Walton: reasonable enough game and I would not criticise him for either goal plus he made a couple of decent saves. O’Donnell: you can’t fault his endeavour but we needed more than that. His covering was not very good and when he did get forward his crosses usually over-hit. More SODding time on the training ground needed I feel: so come on SOD as James Justin will surely be looking over your shoulder before too long. Mullins: some parts of his play looked composed but maybe this game was just a “not so good day”, although to be fair he was in a wide-ranging collective company in that category. Sheehan: was he back a game too early? Did we miss Cuthbert who after all has had some cracking good games so far this season? Sheehan had some reasonable touches, some poor passes. He may need some time to get up to speed and to me, he looked a touch rusty compared to the class act we know he is. Potts: a bit like that WW2 joke about the gears on an Italian tank mainly being of the reverse nature. He has a lot to learn about wing back play and I would say turned in his poorest performance in an LTFC shirt. Young guy and hopefully he can work on that wing play. Lee: when we are on a roll with momentum on our side he is the man but when we are not on that roll and momentum is not with us, he is simply not an effective holding midfield player: under pressure, he is a bit like your granny with a handbag! I accept some grannies may be lethal with a flying handbag but not our Mr Lee. Maybe we simply select our games for him in future and just wheel him out for cannon fodder days. McGeehan: for me, he just did not get into the game anywhere enough to impose himself. Pelly: was he playing in flip-flops? The occasional good bit of work but those flip-flops ruined his passing game; not at his best by a long way. Cook: probably had more directional energy than the other Luton players but even then, the bad day syndrome kicked in every so often but I still reckon we have a really decent player in there. Marriott: tried really hard to get things going but not a lot of luck for him in the game. Another youngster will have better days. Hylton: usual totally committed performance but in the later stages of the first half. He picked up an injury in a collision with a Grimsby defender that effectively ended his day. Vassell: I thought he did well and with a touch more self-belief could have grabbed a goal. Rea: toughened us up a fair extent when he came on after half-time and took his goal well yet still managed to make a few of silly mistakes in the second half with a couple of misplaced passes that needlessly put us under pressure. Having said that, a class player who for my mind should be one of the first names on the team sheet. Gilliead: only had a few minutes but once he settled he looked interesting: possibly the wide player we need in home games to unlock the oppositions defence. Teams and cards: Luton Line Up: Walton, O’Donnell, Potts, Sheehan (C), Lee (replaced by Rea at HT), Cook, Pelly (replaced by Gilliead very late in the game), McGeehan, Hylton (replaced by Vassell at HT), Marriott. Subs not used: King, Gray, Smith, Cuthbert: would he have prevented that winner with his presence in the air? Grimsby Line Up: McKeown, Davies (C), Andrew, Pearson, Gowling, Chambers, Bogle, Vose, Summerfield, Comley, Tuton Bookings: Luton: Sheehan, Potts, Cook, Grimsby: four bookings but I would not say anything dreadful in that to be fair. Next week I am off for my usual break in Kyrenia and hopefully, I will have a brief guest report from a friend attending the Crawley game. Nathan's post match interview and the goals from the game attached both courtesy of Youtube sharing;
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Hi there, welcome to my site where I chronicle various things about the Hatters, a team I have followed since the mid 60’sArchives
December 2017
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