Luton Town Ladies 1st XI v Broxbourne 2nd XI

A scintillating team performance and two hat tricks resulted in an on form Luton Town Ladies 1st XI running out 7-1 winners against Broxbourne this Saturday.
Luton demonstrated their intent from the start and for the first period of the match the ball barely exited the visitor’s twenty three metre area. Broxbourne must have been wondering what had hit them after undoubtedly expecting a far easier competition having beating Luton 4-1 in a pre-season friendly just a few weeks ago. Fast, accurate passing around the circle and some decent stick work inside it meant it was unsurprising that Luton managed to draw the fouls from the Broxbourne defenders and earn themselves a plethora of opportunities from penalty corners. It would have been a huge surprise to everyone if Striker Suzanne Starkey was not able to capitalise on these opportunities and true to form she put Luton ahead smashing a bullet into the left hand corner of the goal. Luton’s second followed shortly after and was almost identical, again Starkey from a penalty corner this time accurately placing the ball past the keeper into the opposite corner. 2-0 half time.
If Broxbourne had hoped that Luton would sit back and try to hold their lead, the initial fifteen minutes of the second half would soon prove them to be mistaken. It was undoubtedly Luton’s best period of the game. Another solid effort, again from a penalty corner, saw Starkey claim her hat trick, whilst not to be outdone Captain Charlotte Dunham upped her game and her efforts were rapidly rewarded. A simple pass across the face of the goal by Emma Whitehall, who had created space after turning the defence on the edge of the circle, left Dunham with nothing to do, but slot the ball home. It was moments later when Whitehall and Dunham linked up again. An easy ball down the line left Dunham with only the keeper to beat and it was with an exquisite piece of skill that she coolly lofted the ball into the net. Dunham would not have to wait long for her third, a cheeky, well placed, reverse stick flick fooling everyone and ending up adding to Luton’s increasingly impressive tariff. The final goal of the game saw Suzanne Starkey claim her fourth, an easy tap in, re-directing Dunham’s strike from the top of the circle past the post. If anyone had any doubt that Starkey had lost her affinity with the goal, after a dry spell at the start of the season, their fears were truly put to bed after today’s performance. Somewhere amidst the onslaught Broxbourne had managed to pull a goal back, but it was of little consequence in a game where Luton were clearly the better side. Much has been said about the quality of the attack, but it was backed up by some tenacious defending when needed, especially in the final ten minutes of the game and some excellent work by the midfield to provide the attackers with their numerous opportunities. To identify one player in a match where all had played so well was not going to be easy. Midfielder Charlotte Mckinnon’s mazy runs and determined commitment had been impressive throughout, whilst Sally Kelly was again solid in her new role as sweeper. On another occasion, with four goals to her name it would have been Suzanne Starkey who took the honours, but at the end of the day it was the cool composure of Charlotte Dunham’s hat trick that earned her this week’s player of the match award. Janet Gray was hot favourite for mare of the match after apparent senility caused her to think that push back was for some reason later than it has been every week for the last ten years! Fortunately Gray earned a narrow reprieve when Alisha Patel picked up a green card after failing to retreat five from a free hit. She was seemingly struck down by temporary deafness being unable to hear the helpful warnings of umpire Mary Walsh.
Luton will hope to emulate this performance next week against Shefford and Sandy 1s.