Oh, what a lovely September day for a game of football with the temperate hovering at about 20C, a lovely couple of pints of Otter bitter in the company of friends including a splendid pair of longstanding buddies from Doncaster. This is what post summer Saturdays are surely made for! Well after the enjoyment of lunchtime it was off for a walk up Hazelbury Crescent to our beloved Kenny and once again bump into more friends to enjoy a chat and bit of banter with. Our Nathan decided to make a total of five changes from the line-up that started at Crawley: The young only 17-year-old Justin replaced O’Donnell at right back: that pleased a lot of people (EDIT: reliably informed by the Outsider from Outlaws that Justin has now turned 18). The more aerially commanding Cuthbert replaced Sheehan: sensible as we need to win more in the air. Pelly who can only use his power and skill if he is on the pitch replaced the more conservative Smith. And up front Jones reverted to our best striking partnership of “phantom of the opera” Hylton and aliceband Marriott. Does Marriott’s hair really warrant an aliceband? Never mind, when I see Cuthbert wearing one then that will confirm to me that the world has truly gone mad. Doncaster fielded an old friend of Luton Town previous Wembley exploits, “offside Matty Blair”. Oh what mixed emotions within an afternoon you can experience following the Hatters: the game kicked off at some pace with both side playing incredibly open football and with our visitors from Doncaster definitely looking the sharper side so much so that we could have been two goals behind within the first five minutes; one headed chance at the far post should have really been put away and a cruel ricochet from a Cuthbert clearance was headed onto the bar by the dangerous Williams; Williams is a good player, I like him. Although we were under a fair amount of pressure for a side playing at home, young Justin making his full league debut was really catching the eye with his all round play and absolute willingness to get involved in everything; surely a real star in the making. Donny’s pressure finally paid off on 21 minutes with Coppinger scoring with a splendid strike from a tight angle; we could have defended that better but you have to appreciate such a good strike. However, the unfortunate Cuthbert picked up what looked like a nasty injury from that gaol move. He laid on the ground for an age having the attention of a platoon of medical staff before being carried off to the resounding applause including that of the sporting Donny fans in front of him. With Cuthbert off, the aerial strength of Doncaster, the pressure we were under and Sheehan on in Cuthbert’s place, I certainly had the feeling that the game would not end well for us. However, that long stoppage was a bit of a watershed in terms of who was running the game. Lee who had, in all honesty, a fairly torrid early start to the game decided that he was really going to show his critics what he could do. He produced some timely tackles and then a peach of a cross that the brave McGeehan buried into the Donny net for 1-1. Yes, we were finally waking up and better was to follow with the second Luton goal. This came about from a truly lovely flick-on pass from Hylton to Marriott that put him through to run at the goalkeeper and then beautifully slide the ball between the keeper's legs and into the net. This was a really lovely move; great finish by Marriott and great thinking from the hard working Hylton. However, just as we lost a player, Cuthbert, in the first goal, we lost another player in this goal with Cook limping off with what I assumed was a hamstring injury to be replaced by Jake Gray. So we reached half time leading by 2-1 when we could so easily have been behind following that speedy dominant start by Donny. Thankfully we continued our domination in the second half; would we be able to keep going for a win especially considering the two forced substitutions had robbed Nathan of his option to deploy his game changers? Add to that the clash of heads injury suffered by Sheehan that surely must be good business for providers of LTFC shirts as Sheehan certainly changed his blood splattered shirt quite a few times. Strangely some real nasty njuries in what I would never classify as a dirty game. Our on the field “game changer” Pelly then produced some powerful magic charging past a Donny defender who upended him just inside the area; penalty. After a mini-debate between Hylton and McGeehan in which I suspect that Cam politely told Danny boy “I am taking it mate”, McGeehan hit a rocket of a penalty down the centre, no placing with that one; I think the old expression is “put his laces through the ball”. Excellent stuff and 3-1 to the town! Then another silly moment from Hylton saw him collect his second yellow of the afternoon on 90 minutes for chucking a piece of advertising board edge to the ground to show his displeasure at not getting a foul awarded in his favour. I would like our Danny to calm it a touch but maybe that’s all part of the fully committed handful of a player we have. Incidentally, I have no time for any idiots who claim he is a liability especially those experts who never even get along to a game but sit glued to 3CR; enough said! Obviously, the officials were really enjoying their afternoon out as they clearly did not want the game to end and added a further 8 minutes of value for the paying punter. Thankfully we stayed strong and even after being under the cosh for the first third of the game we overcame that and ran out deserved winners. At the end of the game, there was the usual passion from our diminutive Welsh Wizard as he self-administered CPR and found time to give young Justin a well-earned cuddle. Overall a splendid victory against a very good Donny side that contained few players I would rather like to see on our books at the Kenny. Yesterday I really suspect we beat the team that may finish the top of L2. Anyway, off early on Monday morning for an overnight stop in beautiful Whitby before moving on to Hartlepool on Tuesday for the game: note view from the patch will not be available until Wednesday evening at the earliest due to travel: I love these local Tuesday evening games! A few thoughts on individual performances: Walton: caught the ball well; generally a solid game Justin: Cool and calm from the off. For a lad of his age, he had a splendid game; I don’t want to set him up to be knocked down so will just say quality. Potts: had a lot to put up with in that first 30 minutes but came out of it well and like the rest of the team improved as the game went on. Mullins: good on the ground, good in the air when not under the direct challenge of the big Donny forwards; not sure that’s a criticism as some of those Donny lads are big un’s Cuthbert: did well enough in his short spell on the pitch and hopefully will be available for selection soon once recovered from his injury. Lee: uncertain early part of the game but then decided to show us fans, especially me, that we were wrong. From the 30th to the 111th minute he was very good. Cook: there is a good player in there that we see come through well at times. I felt that yesterday he like others in that first 30 minutes just could not impose himself on the game and went off injured at the time of our equaliser. Pelly: it was Pelly who in my view was our game changer taking the game to Donny after that torrid half hour start. Pace, power running, tackling; yes; Pelly had a very very good game. McGeehan: again once we got started, be was fully committed as you can see from his equaliser and a fine run early in the second half that almost brought another goal. Also that perfect penalty in a “no messing about” way. Marriott: very good game not just in the way that he scored but also in the non-stop way that he played: undoubtedly one of my favourite players to have in the side. Hylton: well we always know what we are going to get from Danny boy and he worked his socks off yesterday although his Zoro sword impersonation late in the game did let him down. The Subs or game changers: Sheehan: total bravery and commitment; had a great second half. Gray: a very impressive game that had a bit of everything; I certainly feel that his work gave us the edge in midfield. Gilliead: really only had the extra time to have a run out and looked good; I am sure we will see more of him. Teams: Luton: Walton, Justin, Potts, Cuthbert (Sheehan 28), Mullins, Lee, Cook (Gray 38), Pelly, McGeehan (Gilliead 90), Hylton, Alice-Marriott. Subs not used: King, Vassell, Smith, O’Donnell. Donny: Marosi, Butler, Marquis, Rowe (Middleton 77), Williams, Wright, Houghton, Blair, Richardson (Baudry 64), Coppinger (C), Evina (Calder 65). Subs not used: Etheridge, Garrett, Mandeville, Beestin. Bookings: Hylton x 2 = red, Evina, Wright, Potts: note a tough fought but never a dirty game. Courtesy of youtube share and LTFC, the Nathan Jones post match interview and goals from the match.
2 Comments
Gale Waller (RutlandHatter)
9/26/2016 08:10:59 am
Bill,
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