We all have bad days in our life and I fully appreciate that NJ is trying to build a team here and yes, that can take time. However, some of his decisions last night must surely go permanently into the hard drive memory bank of our young manager. Building that side can take time as shown by the Luton legend David Pleat; I just hope Nathan really does learn from his mistakes and to be fair, any manager, particularly one learning his trade, will make mistakes!
The game itself in honesty, I did not think we were really too bad for the first half and in truth we were very unlucky to be a goal behind at halftime. Cook was unlucky with a beautifully struck free kick that smacked the bar and Vassell unfortunately, could not connect with a low ball across the area with the goal almost undefended. As for Cheltenham, well it was their lucky day with a nervous rookie keeper Moore, in goal for Luton, and making a total mess of a long punt forward from the Cheltenham keeper. Moore pushed the ball behind for a corner and from that corner, he flapped away at the ball before making and aimless shoulder-high punch at the ball as it bounced around: awful defending and 0-1 to Cheltenham. We kept playing football and were creating some nice passing moves but unfortunately fell further behind when Senior and assisting midfielders left Barthram free to accept a great pass from Winchester and slot the ball past Moore, nicely taken goal: 0-2. As I said we had chances in that first half and Vassell did latch on to a beautiful little pass from Pelly and slot the ball into the net:1-2 to Cheltenham. Unfortunately, Smith had picked up a foot injury during the first half and had to be replaced in the second half but hell why the feck with Olly Lee. Smith’s role was to run round tackling and breaking up play; replacing him with the man publically condemned by NJ, well it just does not add up to me; Olly Lee pulls out more than a Vatican guard! Nathan, why not move Rea up in Smiths place after all we did have Sheehan on the bench and that should have been more than enough to hold the mighty Cheltenham. In the second half we lost our way further and incredibly Lee took over Pelly’s role and thus just about nullifying the effectiveness of Pelly and Gambin for that matter. Most of the passes that Lee made were underweighted or ridiculous passes to players already in tightly marked positions. Things got worse when on a breakaway Cheltenham hit their third goal: 1-3 to Cheltenham. I don’t want to be getting at Olly all the time especially after the way Paul hart praised him but sadly Lee’s tracking back and covering for that third goal was simply awful. We did pick up a second goal when Lee, quite cleverly, belted a low free kick into the crowded box and it was deflected into the goal: 2-3 to Cheltenham. Also just before the end of the game, we should have had a penalty when Vassell was hauled down but perhaps referee Mr Busby was evening things out for his two penalty gifts to us in the FA Cup game at Exeter. Overall Impression: A very dispiriting night’s performance, not just by the players who had to, unfortunately chase the game from early on, but also from our learning manager! I understand now that the selection of Moore over King gave us the option to sign an emergency loan keeper as had we played King, who has four first team, checkertrade games, that would have taken him to 5 appearances and raised him to “senior keeper status” thus preventing the arrival of an emergency loan goalkeeper. It appears it was also for that reason that Walton played in the game against Chesterfield: thanks to Mahatma Gander a poster on Outlaws for the provision of that information. It can’t have been easy for Moore having never trained with the defenders in front of him but really he has to take ownership for that opening goal. I also feel that NJ has to own the substitutions and can’t see any sense in persevering with Olly Lee but I thought that NJ had learnt that one! Well, let’s accept that this team building lark does take time and as mentioned earlier it took our legend Pleat a while before he got things exactly as he wanted them. Yes, painful as another little window of opportunity opens then rapidly closed by our own actions but that’s life following Luton. Some thoughts on individual performances: Moore: looked very nervous and was at fault for the first goal firstly flapping and then making an aimless shoulder-high punch at the falling ball. What an awful confidence destroying start for the young loan player. From his performance as the game progressed he just seemed to be destroyed by that early error and flapped at another cross in the second half. I hope he can recover and recover quickly. Justin: not his best game and he really needs to work on the timing of his crossing. On so many occasions his cross was blocked by a Cheltenham player. Senior: probably our best player on the night as he tenaciously fought for everything. He was partly at fault for allowing the Cheltenham scorer so much space for their second goal but the lack of covering from midfield was also a factor. Cuthbert: I have written just so many times that to get the best out of Cuthbert you need a goalkeeper behind him who is both competent and confident coming off his line. Cuthbert with Mitchell or Cuthbert with Walton; excellent. Cuthbert with line hogging Tyler or dodgy Justham: no, just not the same centre back. Rea: loads of spirit as ever Pelly: looked good in the first half but very diluted by the introduction of Lee in the second half. One for your learning memory bank Nathan. Smith: I thought he did fairly but unfortunately according to the club, picked up a foot injury and was replaced at halftime. Gambin: again looked really creative and capable of doing something with the ball: I think I would have left him on the pitch rather than substituting him. Cook: again showed some decent touches plus had a splendid free kick that struck the bar in the first half. Marriott: not his best evening although he never gave up trying and to his credit tackling back. He was replaced by D’Ath after with half an hour to go: why D’Ath and not Banton? Vassell: missed one, although the ball as far as I could see was marginally behind him, and scored one. He should really have also been awarded a penalty very late in the game but perhaps referee Mr Busby was evening things out for his two penalty gifts to us in the FA Cup game at Exeter. The Subs: Lee: introduced at the start of the second half and ousted Pelly from his holding role to the midfield wilderness. I could say that Olly sprayed the ball around with casual ease and arrogance as he effortlessly found a player, any player in any shirt, with each and every touch. The guy to his credit never hides but simply is just not good enough. D’Ath: took over the anonymous role from Cook: can’t say I am at all impressed to date. Alright, you could say he has hardly played this season and is a touch rusty but surely when you are desperate for a goal Banton would have been a better bet. Gray: did not really manage to get into the game enough in my view.
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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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