With great expectation in the air for the last game before Christmas day, what better way to spend a prematch than in the company of fellow Hatters enjoying a swift refreshment before heading off to the Kenny.
The Kenny itself was nicely filled and to the credit of our fishy friends, that had brought down a really decent following with the away section at the Oak Road end well populated. Two changes in the starting line up compared to that at Forest Green, one enforced change with the talented James Justin taking the place of the suspended Jack Stacey and one elective change with James Collins taking the place of the tricky Elliot Lee. The Collins move been designed to offer a bit more physical presence up front; understandable but tough on Elliot who has been in the best form of his career since joining us from Barnsley. It was a very fluid flowing start to the game by Luton with some great passing moves that had the Mariners battling to stay off the rocks as the town came close with efforts form Olly, Collins and a powerful header from Dan Potts. Grimsby were having the odd moment but really anything they had to offer was being either snaffled out or blocked as they attempted to get close to the Luton goal. We were putting solid pressure on the visitors who were only just managing to hold on and apart from some miscalibrated corner kicks from the usually precise Sheehan, all looked well for our table-topping team. Then five minutes from half-time we had a superb piece of flowing football starting with a ball from Stech passing the ball out and beautiful sweet passing move that saw Collins sent the ball out towards the left to Luke Berry about 30 yards from goal. Berry cut in towards the middle of the pitch and then hit a “Beckham special” curving a wonderful shot head height to McKeown’s left and bulging the back of the net. I rather liked the brave yet often invisible McGeehan particularly for his goals but this lad Berry just offers so much more to the team with his Preece like play. We then pushed for another before half-time and came close with Hylton looking to be back to his best and causing lots of trouble to the Grimsby defence with his clever footwork. After the break, we kept the pressure and the tempo going with a total team performance. The great underachiever Jamille Matt, a towering “nearly man” did have a chance at goal but apart from that just about everything was comfortably intercepted by the back four or blocked by totally committed Hatters. In truth, not that much was able to come through that far from Grimsby as Glen Rea, who matures by the game, was having a great game in deep midfield winning just so many challenges. Just past the hour-mark, we were given a free kick about 30 yards from goal on our right-hand side. With quite a view of the goal, I rather expected a Sheehan special targeting the top corner but instead, he sent in a nice delivery for Collins to evade the defenders and put a very powerful header into the back of McKewon’s net. A lovely goal that was maybe aided by a what seemed rather feeble defending for that free kick. Nathan who it has to be said seems to be getting the hang of this substitution lark, firstly replaced Shinnie with Cornick and then Collins with Elliot Lee: how many other sides in this league or maybe even the one above can boast such strength in depth? The close control and trickery of both Cornick and Elliot was giving real problems to the Mariners and both players aided by their great footwork cam so close to adding more goals So there we are a fine and convincing victory achieved with a whole team performance without any real weakness in the side. If anything the 2-0 scoreline was somewhat flattering to Grimsby who were well beaten and could easily have returned back to Humberside beaten by more goals. Overall View A total team performance with defence, midfield and attack combining as a totally seamlessly unit with great flowing football, inter-passing and continual movement into space to give the player in possession options. What a change to the last couple of seasons when players rather seemed frightened to offer themselves to receive a pass. What a valuable team player Luke Berry is and NJ has to be congratulated for his dealing in the market moving the sometimes good sometimes invisible McGeehan on and bringing in Berry; the bloke is always looking unselfishly to be in the game and works like hell. Having said that, if I were to pick a player as MOM it would have been a close call and I would have named quite a few including the ever-improving Glen Rea the boss of midfield: if McCormack does regain fitness, will he ever get a place in the side ahead of Rea? It was interesting to have a peek at comments on the Grimsby fans forum. They were full of praise for our style of player and acknowledging that the better side won. That’s quite generous for a group of fans not known for their love of Luton Town. A great time to be a Hatter’s fan; roll on Boxing day when we probably take well over 1000 travelling Hatters. A few thoughts on individual performances: Stech: he was well protected by his defence and when called upon, looked very sound and commanding. The only downside was that “O’Donnell” quality kicking with balls that were probably meant for Collins had he been sitting in the crowd. Good keeper but he does need to work on his kicking. Justin: effortlessly cool and simply looked like he had been playing at this level of performance all season. The young man has great energy, reads the game well and loves getting forward with his running at the opposition's defence. It speaks volumes about the strength in depth we have that such a talent has had to wait for his opportunity to get a game. Potts: a very good game both in defence and in the attack; came close to adding to his impressive goalscoring record with his power in the air: a very good player and so massively improved from last season. Mullins: I have to give Mullins who sometimes seems to have been patched up with duct tape, credit for improving game after game in Cuthbert’s absence: he had a very good game and read play very well. Sheehan: our captain on the day was a total class in defence and really giving the impression of being a leader willing to get in the referees face just as good old Ronnie Henry used to do. His corners were not at their best in the game but that was a superb delivery leading to Collins goal. Sheehan is such a hugely influential player to our side. Rea: will he be able to improve on that performance; in all honesty, difficult to see how he could improve. A terrific game as a midfield enforcer making some terrific interceptions, impressively protecting the back four and wow, his passing was really decent. Berry: oh what a signing Luke Berry is proving to be and what a goalscoring threat from midfield. Berry never disappears; always looking, willing, grafting and as a bonus, scoring some great goals. This guy really makes the team tick. Olly Lee: another good game from Olly; he is just so much better these days than in that experimental role protecting the back four. Shinnie: he proved to be much too difficult for the Grimsby team to suppress and was instrumental in some great passing moves plus very pretty wide play interchanging passes so skilfully. Hylton: is he selfish, greedy or is he simply a hungry striker? You take your choice but whatever, it’s just great to see his game was almost back to it’s best with great turns, close control and a total pain to the Grimsby defence all game. Collins: created space for himself and others all game by being so powerful and mobile. The goal he took was a typically determined powerful header “old fashioned number 9 style” from Sheehan’s excellent freekick. The subs: Elliott Lee: Just to think that earlier in the season some of us including myself were finding it difficult to figure out where Elliot would fit in the team. He has had some false starts at other clubs but being such a clever player will continue to prosper at Luton as seen with his excellent close control on Saturday. Cornick: an excellent guy to either start with or as in the last couple of games, a speedy tricky player to bring on late in the game and run at tired defenders. D’Ath: only had a few minutes but good to see him back after such a long time out with an injury.
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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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