A Big Thank You: A thank you to all who have helped to bring together a site to replace the now closed 262 football site which failed in Mid-November. The Ltfcfool has successfully brought together well over 100 previous 262 posters that have also been joined by a good number of new posters enrolling on the forum. The Bobberman League & Cup Competitions have restarted with almost 90% of the previous players joining.
So, it’s with real appreciation that I thank Face Book folk, Outlaws & the Twitter Hatters for helping converting a potential crisis into a real success. Luton 1 Notts County 1 Due to time constraints at the moment, I am tending this season to restrict whittling on about matches to away games but heck, why not write a few notes about our top of the table clash with Notts County in a Kenilworth Road Stadium with all tickets sold for the clash. As ever, it’s nice to meet up with a large group of fellow Hatters for a pre-match refreshment or two; simply always great but yesterday it had the added edge of pre-planning for that exciting day out in early January when we take on Newcastle at the splendid St James's Park. Strangely my second most visited ground as I spent a lot of time on Tyneside as a youngster and just had to have my football fix. What is really nice is that so many people are planning to make the trip and hopefully enjoy the day out. For a league two club with no hope of winning the FA Cup, it’s all about simply enjoying the occasion and it's such a financially induced shame that the big boys treat the FA Cup with such contempt. Sadly that’s where we are now with football firmly in the grips of the goggle box paying couch potatoes. Nathan named an unchanged side for the game; sounds fair to me I thought as I queued in a very long queue for my FGR & Swindon tickets. I have a lot of time for the guys and girls in the ticket office, a great bunch of helpful people but why do they have such a surname split on the two collection windows? On days like this, I often think if only my name was something like Zyskowski I would have been tucking into my cone of chips five minutes ago. Incidentally, there is good news for all going to FGR by train, I am going by Road so your train journey should both be uneventful and on time. The old Kenny Lady was really rocking with over 10,000 supporters coming along to watch two side neck & neck at the top of the most glorious league in football; what a joy to be there. Once the game was underway it soon became apparent why County are having such a successful season. Anybody who remembers the successful Stevenage side that won promotion from the Conference would have witnessed the overall approach before: a group of physical, tall and well-coached players simply playing a system that if you have the giants available, will succeed at the lower league levels. Indeed for the first twenty minutes, County were playing with a very high tempo that whilst not totally stifling our style did prevent us from really getting at them. However, such a high rate of energy could not last and after that initial twenty-minute spell we really came on quite strongly and started to get at the County defence with Elliot Lee, in particular, pulling the defending giants all over the place. Then just as I said to my good lady “I know it’s a corner but we never score from corners”, Jonny Mullins rose above the Titans to head the ball into the net: wonderful stuff! Great to be in front in a game where clear-cut chances were a real rarity. County countered and simply used every opportunity they could slinging the long ball goalwards time and again yet it’s all credit to the superb Sheehan and his able centre back companion, Mullins, that the great majority were effectively repelled. In the second half we continued to press forward but just could not take the rare chances that came our way with Rea proving why his footballing future lies in the defensive side of the game as he belted the ball over the bar from close range. Also later in the game Mullins almost scored the winner with a good effort from within the box only for the keeper to pull off a great save. The equaliser, well sadly one that has to be owned by Mr Stech as he made a complete mess of coming out for a high ball from a free kick and the ball was embarrassingly touched into the net by the aged 6ft 3in frame of Ameobi. In search of a winner, Nathan to my surprise brought on “something different” Collins in place of the excellent Elliot Lee: in reality, the ineffective Hylton can’t be substituted as I understand it’s a clause incorporated in his contract. In the end, a hard fought well contested 1-1 draw that sees both sides maintain their place at the head of the L2 table. Overall Impression: A fair point against a side well constructed to physically blast their way out of league two. Whilst I acknowledge the County approach, which is incidentally more than many County fans were doing a month or two ago when they were having a go at their manager Nolan for his style, It’s not one I would enjoy watching: just not for me. When we come up against such physically strong sides, our game sometimes, but not always, can struggle to reach its peak. To some extent that’s what we saw yesterday and whilst I felt we played well we did not manage to hit peak performance; we just simply can’t turn on the 5 goal plus magic every game. I am personally satisfied with the point and although it’s early December I feel convinced that our talented side will be promoted at the end of the season: a good day out with hopefully many more good games to come. A few Thoughts on Individual Performances Stech: had a decent game apart from that dreadful lapse when he came out for the free kick lofted ball that gave County the equaliser. Stacey: usual athletic powerhouse but maybe not as effective down the right hand of the attack as he can be, yet made some good clearances in his defending duties. Potts: sound as ever and takes up that far post position so well when attacking at dead ball kicks. Mullins: in the past, I have been a touch critical of Mullins but yesterday I thought he was really very solid indeed; one of his best games in a Luton shirt in my opinion. Sheehan: an outstanding afternoon and much to my surprise won so many of the aerial challenges against much taller more physical men. Rea: usual gritty tackling and move breaking approach yet, unfortunately, his move breaking skills also infuse into his attempts to pass a ball to colleagues. Berry: just look at how hard this guy works and such an improvement from the headless chicken we sold to Barnsley. He will pop up everywhere on the pitch and rarely wastes the ball. Shinnie: delighted to say that this unquestionably very talented footballer has learnt the art of survival in the uglier side of L2: a real talent who yesterday looked just so comfortable on the ball. Olly Lee: he did ok but maybe not the sort of game where Olly’s talents will really flourish. Elliot Lee: I thought Elliot was a complete thorn in County’s side all afternoon and I really reckon we have a hungry young mane here with something to prove after failures/rejection earlier in his career. He had a super game and I was a touch surprised when Nathan hooked him off. Hylton: did ok but nowhere near his usual self and general well kept out of it by the County defenders. The Subs: Collins: lots of energy after his time on the sidelines recovering from that Cheltenham injury but far less effective than Elliot had been. Gambin: a cameo appearance and tried in the few minutes he had.
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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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