Saturday 26th September 2009 - U's 3-4 Luton: U's hattered
Some images stay ingrained on your mind for life. Some are welcome (approaching Wembley, great goals, classic victories), some are not so welcome (leaving Wembley, Barry Fry's face, anything to do with the Glassworld Stadium).
Mention Luton Town and I am transported back to 10th December 2002, on a freezing cold night in the less-than-cosy surroundings of Kenilworth Road, deep into golden-goal extra time in the LDV Vans Trophy area quarter-final.
In the 112th minute little Luke Guttridge sprinted away to ram home the match-winning goal and, despite the minus-figures temperature, celebrated by ripping off his shirt and whirling it around his head as his team-mates rushed to congratulate him and we in the away end jumped to our frostbitten feet to crack the icy air with our acclaim. From -5 to 100 degrees in an instant.
That was the last time before today that we met our near-neighbours from Bedfordshire, and what a chequered history both clubs have endured since that dark December night. Now we met in somewhat reduced circumstances, two relative giants in a pond that sometimes seems no larger than a puddle. And what a welcome sight it was to see a decent away following at the Abbey for the first time this season after a parade of mini-busloads had made the South Stand look like an amber-painted Maracana.
Sadly, there turned out to be a few rotten apples in the Hatters' barrel, but we should not allow a small minority to persuade us that we have suddenly been transported back to the bad old early Eighties. Not until the Goombay Dance Band reform, anyway.
There were a few familiar old faces in the Hatters' line-up, such as former United left-back Freddie Murray, veteran ex-QPR striker Kevin Gallen, former U's loan target Liam Hatch, and ex-Peterborough keeper Mark Tyler, resplendent in a black outfit with deafening luminous orange yoke, a man who always seemed to have a 'worldie' against United.
As for the hosts, Martin Ling changed the team which had started the previous eight games by dropping Danny Crow and Andy Parkinson in favour of Mark Beesley and Courtney Pitt.
The Abbey was loud and vibrant, with some noise actually coming from the south end of the stadium at last this term, and after some early jousting the first shot went to Rossi Jarvis, but Danny Potter clutched his shot with ease.
Asa Hall fired wide, then a splendid through ball from Pitt sent Holroyd away down the left channel, but he spurned what looked like a clear shooting chance and instead tried to find Beesley, without success. In an end-to-end battle, Hatch blasted a wildly ambitious long-ranger into the car park on 7, then Claude Gnakpa was first into the book for a pull-back on the mercurial Pitt.
The visitors were not shy to shoot, Gallen firing over on 11 and Hatch doing the same two minutes later, then some slipshod defending let Gallen free down the left and his ball across the box found Adam Newton unmarked eighteen yards out, but somehow he slid an over-deliberate shot wide of the near post.
Jake Howells then sent a curler over the angle as possession remained fairly even but Luton were having all the shots. Both sides were playing a fluid 4-4-2 and United were persisting with their tactic of stationing Dan Gleeson ahead of Robbie Willmott on the right side so that he could get his head onto balls sprayed out to that wing, which was all very well except when the ball was played out to the left instead and both men suddenly found themselves out of position.
The breakthrough came as something of a welcome surprise on 20. Beesley fed Pitt in the box, the little winger suddenly popping up in the right channel, and he allowed the ball to run across himself before rifling low into the bottom corner from ten yards out. Welcome back, wee man: 1-0.
A minute later Beesley was brought down by George Pilkington just outside the right corner of the box and Wayne Hatswell stepped up to lash the free-kick just over the far angle. Gleeson then fouled Howells and Jarvis' free-kick found the head of the hulking Hatch, but he could only nod wide, and just before the half-hour Jarvis hammered another shot over, this one at least finding the NRE rather than the Newmarket Road.
Potter caught Gallen's header from a Hall cross a couple of minutes later, then on 33 ref Madley awarded the U's a generous penalty when Anthony Tonkin tangled with Gnakpa as he tried to cross. Gnakpa did not receive a second yellow, but Hatch got a first for a rather pointless dissent. Holroyd lashed the spot-kick home despite Tyler's best efforts: 2-0.
The atmosphere increased in heat from 'phew' to 'blimey!' The busy Paul Carden blocked a Gnakpa shot on 38, but the match seemed about to drift irrevocably away from the visitors five minutes later when Hatch chased Carden into the corner and lunged mindlessly in with studs up. The only surprise was that he received a second yellow rather than a straight red, but the outcome was the same.
If that incident was ugly, so was the reaction of the Luton fans in the Habbin (now lined with a wall of police and stewards) and of their injured skipper Kevin Nicholls, who got into a row with some United fans in the Main Stand. Sometimes there is a price to pay for a larger than average crowd.
Last action of an increasingly dramatic first half was a booking for Tonkin after a foul on Newton, then it was time for everyone to calm down during the interval. Bizarrely, United's pitch-tenders were forbidden to take their forks out onto the pitch for some kind of safety reason. Let us hope that that approach is not applied to our forces overseas.
No doubt Ling counselled his men against complacency while Mick Harford was getting his ten men fired up for a second-half comeback. Unfortunately the men in amber do not appear to have been listening, and they paid for a timid and listless start to part two three minutes in. Jarvis curled a teasing corner to the far post, the towering Alan White's header was well parried by Potter, but the predator Gallen was there to ram into the roof of the net from close in. 2-1.
A potential turning point came four minutes later. Holroyd went on a twisting and teasing run from halfway and was tripped by Gnakpa; had he not already been booked, the ref would surely not have hesitated to get his cards out, several players having already been carded for similar offences. But with Luton already down to ten men and a section of the away fans causing ugly scenes at pitchside in the Habbin in the face of a thin blue line, the appropriately-named Mr Madley made do with a feeble lecture, and before play could even resume, Gnakpa was substituted by Callum Reynolds in what resembled nothing so much as a pre-season friendly 'forced' substitution to avoid a red card. But there could not have been any collusion between the Luton bench and the man in black, obviously.
Luton remained in the ascendant, looking fired up and motivated while United were a shadow of the side which was so impressive at York on Tuesday. And they paid for their somnolence on the hour. Jarvis set off on a run down the left, played a one-two with Gallen, and in the shocking absence of any sort of challenge or tackle from a United man, he ran on to lash an impressive shot past Potter and into the far top corner. Lordy: 2-2.
The hosts' hitherto impressive back four, so recently kings of the clean sheet, suddenly looked hesitant and vulnerable, not helped a great deal by those in front of them, and more shoddy defending handed the Hatters the lead a minute later. Hatswell made a pig's ear of an interception out on the left, Gallen robbed him and hared for goal, and although Potter parried his shot superbly, Howells was first ahead of a slumbering back line to poke into the empty goal. Lordy lordy: 2-3.
Howells was injured in scoring and replaced by Shane Blackett. But within four minutes United had at last raised themselves and roared back again. Hatswell, perhaps feeling guilty about Luton's last goal, joined the attack and when Gleeson arced a perfect cross to the far post, he rose to draw a tremendous save from Tyler; but Holroyd pounced to thrash the rebound into the net from close range. 3-3.
Now anything was possible, as both teams went at each other in an atmosphere little short of frenzied. Murray was booked for a pull on Willmott on 68, but six minutes later came more drama.
As a routine Luton corner floated over, Madley pointed to the penalty spot to everyone's surprise, apparently for a Saah push on White, although unpunished pushing and pulling is a feature of just about every flag-kick ever. Gallen sent Potter the wrong way: 3-4.
Ling had been warming up three subs before the penalty was given, and now made a courageous triple change, withdrawing Beesley and both wingers to go 4-3-3 with Sam Ives added to the midfield and Lee Phillips and Danny Crow accompanying Holroyd up front. It was not exactly subtle as Luton sat back and the U's went direct, pumping balls into the box at every opportunity.
Saah and Gallen clashed when chasing a through ball and the latter cynically tumbled to the floor, clutching his face, but mercifully the ref was not that naïve and did not award Saah the second yellow that Gallen so desperately wanted for him. The veteran striker sloped slowly off the pitch on 81 to be replaced by Tom Craddock.
Now it was a case of Luton packing their box and defying United to come up with the invention to break them down. Tonkin got through some good work, providing width down the left, but on 86 it was Carden who almost came up trumps with a quite brilliant run in which he dribbled past several opponents to the byline, cut inside and pulled a clever ball back to Saah of all people eight yards out in a crowded area; the United defender's shot was solidly struck but along the ground and that man Tyler leaped across to block even as the amber army began to acclaim another equaliser. Should have been four-four.
A couple of corners followed and Hatswell met the second one with a shot on the turn, but his underhit effort bounced straight into Tyler's arms. Five minutes were added, and the goal attempts continued: Gleeson crossed for Hatswell to head straight to the keeper, Holroyd's quick turn was followed by an underpowered shot for Tyler to claim, and Hatswell had another effort blocked away. It was not to be. The ref crowned an increasingly erratic performance when Carden was pushed over by Craddock as they went for a high ball and, as both teams began to take position for a United free-kick, he somehow gave it the other way. But the U's could not blame a peculiar official for this defeat. Well, only a bit...
All credit to Luton for a stirring comeback, which caught United cold and took them ages to respond to. But United should not have been caught cold, and whether or not the visitors should have been reduced to nine men at 2-1, their slow, sloppy defending was uncharacteristic and hopefully (with a bit of work in training) a one-off. This bizarre match will have shown Martin Ling, as if he did not know already, that football is not just about the physical, but the mental too. Now where is that coaching manual chapter on psychology...
Statto Corner
Today saw United's first home defeat to Luton since 25th October 1980, when goals from David Moss, Clive Goodyear and Brian Stein received only a solitary U's reply from George Reilly. United had won their three most recent Abbey encounters with 2-1 and 3-1 League wins in 2000-01 and 1999-00, and a 1-0 Coca-Cola Cup victory in 1993 which was repeated in the second leg a week later, both goals scored by Steve Claridge.
United last lost a game 4-3 at Telford in the Setanta Trophy last season. Their last league defeat by that score was at Rochdale in September 2002, while their last 3-4 at the Abbey was on 18th March 2000, when they were defeated by Wrexham despite goals from Tom Youngs (2) and Trevor Benjamin. The Welshmen's scorers were Danny Williams, Kevin Russell (2) and Darren Ferguson. Whatever happened to him?
The U's last conceded four or more goals at home in their 5-0 FA Trophy defeat to Crawley in January. The last time it happened in a league game was in another 5-0, to York City in March 2007. Today's aggregate of seven goals in a game was last beaten in United's 5-3 defeat to Grays in September 2005, and at home it was another 5-3 reverse, to Yeovil in December 2004.
The last time United conceded four goals in one half was in the Trophy game mentioned above. It happened most recently in the league at Altrincham in March 2007, when they turned a 1-0 half-time deficit into a 5-0 tonking. They last lost after taking a two-goal lead in the aforementioned loss to Yeovil.
Chris Holroyd now has a perfect penalty taking record of six goals and no misses. This equals the record of Scott Rendell in a United shirt. The only U's player since 1970 to have scored more spot-kicks without ever missing one is Steve Massey, who notched seven in the 1985-86 season.
Danny Potter's record against penalties is now twelve conceded out of fifteen faced, or a 20% success rate. The most successful post-1970 United keepers, with a success rate of 50%, are Scott Howie (two out of four) and Shane Herbert (one out of two).
There have now been four red cards shown at the Abbey this season, all to visiting players. The last U's player to be dismissed in a home game was Jon Challinor, in that FA Trophy defeat to Crawley back in January this year.
It is very small comfort, but today was our nemesis Mark Tyler's worst ever game against United. In eight matches for Peterborough, he only let in four goals, and never more than one in a game. He finished on the losing side just once, in a 1-0 Abbey defeat on 11th April 1998. Michael Kyd grabbed the winner ten minutes from time against a Posh side which included Jimmy Quinn, Steve Castle and Martin Carruthers.
Freddie Murray played exactly 100 games in all competitions for the U's (ten as sub) without scoring. He has since faced United six times: twice for Northampton in 2004-05, twice for Stafford and once for Stevenage. He has finished on the losing side only once, for Stevenage in their 2-1 defeat at the Abbey in February 2008.
Kevin Gallen has faced United once before, in his QPR days. The game, on 2nd February 2002, finished goalless at the Abbey; Freddie Murray turned out for the hosts.
Player Ratings
Potter 6. There was little he could do about the goals - he made a superb save in the build-up to the third - but his communication with his defence looked all over the place at times.
Gleeson 6. Not at his finest, with too many sloppy passes.
Tonkin 7. Kept his form best in that nightmare second half.
Hatswell 6. Kept battling, but must hold his hand up for the third goal.
Saah 6. So consistent so far, not quite at the same standard today.
Willmott 6. Room for improvement.
Carden 7. Led by example.
Reason 7. Still steadily improving with a decent, energetic performance.
Pitt 6. Nice comeback goal and hopefully will build on this.
Beesley 6. Tidy, but never made the same impact as on Tuesday.
Holroyd 7. Still getting the goals, although the jury is out on who is his most effective strike partner. Phillips might be interesting.
Crow 5. Not a player to stick up front when you go direct.
Phillips 6. Put himself about reasonably well.
Ives 6. Good, busy cameo.
Match Summary
Complacent United rolled over and exposed their soft underbelly when in a seemingly unbeatable position by letting ten-man Luton steamroller them to defeat by dint of sheer desire and effort. A lesson to be learned and NOT repeated.
Man of the Match
Paul Carden. Covered every blade of grass in his tireless efforts to save the day for his underachieving colleagues.
Ref Watch
Madley 2. Awarded two soft penalties, scandalously bottled a clear sending-off then lost the plot completely. Incompetent.
Out of the Mouths of Babes
"My cousin got hit on the head with the football, and I hope it knocked some sense into him." (Salina Kelnom)
Soundtrack of the Day
Thom Yorke 'Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses'
Andrew Bennett
Andrew's previous match reports
More Match Photos
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