Halloween success as Luton climb to 2nd in the table

Halloween success as Luton climb to 2nd in the table
Luton Ladies 2nd XI beat rivals Berkhampstead & Hemel by three goals to one this week, which sees them soar comfortably to second in the league.
Whilst many people associate Halloween with ghouls, ghosts and spooky happenings, the 31st October was a day of luck for Luton Town. With a 12-woman squad that is growing in confidence with each game that passes, this weekend looked successful from the outset for the Town, even if defender Gale Charles didn’t arrive until 10 minutes before pushback! After a tactical ‘setting up’ before the game and a successful coin-toss win, Luton found themselves with the first pushback and shooting away from the sun for the first half of the game.
The girls were met with some fierce opposition from, well, The Opposition, but after the initial shock that this game wouldn’t be the walk-in-the-park it first appeared (the visitors had a very young side!), Luton recovered well and retained the majority of the possession. Luton strikers Tasniem Ferdouse and Leah O’Shaughnessy made some great runs down the pitch, creating multiple goal-scoring opportunities between them which sadly weren’t converted. However, the first goal of the game came from the most unlikely of players; with Shannon Smith volunteering herself as keeper this week, regular goalkeeper Helen Beattie was left free to roam the pitch. This proved a tactical advantage to Luton, as she easily slotted a ball past several defenders and the goalkeeper to secure not only the lead for Town, but also 15 points on the club’s internal ‘Fantasy League’.
Once play restarted, Luton again went into ‘attack-mode’, looking to extend their lead. It was here that the first short-corner of the game was awarded to the home side for hitting a defender’s foot in the ‘D’. The ball was injected by attacker Suraya Yusuf and received by captain Rebecca Blanchett, however Blanchett’s strike went a bit wayward (to put it nicely!), but nonetheless Town didn’t let this mishap affect them. It wasn’t long before goal-scoring extraordinaire Ferdouse secured her 9th goal this season, with a fabulous lifted ball which soared over the keeper’s head and into the net, giving the spectating Mens 1st XI something to cheer about.
Score at half-time: Luton 2 – 0 Berko & Hemel.
Luton’s attacking strength remained after half-time, despite several short-corners being awarded to the opposition. These, however, were expertly defended by Luton, whose back-line gel so well you would think they were glued together. An excellent first run from Tara Clancy meant that Smith was not needed, as Gale Charles expertly swept the ball, in a hurried fashion, off to the side of the pitch. From this, Berko & Hemel were looking to press their attack but Julie Halsey succeeded in sending the ball down the line to midfielder Karen Sims; after taking it around a player, the opportunity for a goal was presented to Yusuf. However, after an animalistic roar from Ferdouse behind her, the Luton attacker was suitably bewildered enough to send the ball just past the post on the outside.
The opportunity then came for the visitors to dent the home side’s lead, when a through ball from Luton was picked up by the opposition and sent down the pitch; after getting past both Charles and Halsey, the player was left one-on-one with Smith (the most action she’d had all day). A misjudgement of the attacker’s intentions allowed her to easily slot the ball past the Luton keeper, making the scoreline 2-1. This was followed by a sideline ball for the opposition which was swept off the backline by midfielder Justine Orange as Luton looked on in fear, thinking that the ball was about to go into goal; sighs of relief ensued when Town realised it was a clearance, and Orange was forced to promise that never again would she scare the team like that.
Sharna Gough is credited with setting up Luton’s final goal, as she found a defender’s foot in the ‘D’ which gave Luton what would be their last short corner of the game. After a quick injection, the ball was slipped to Justine Orange on the post who netted it behind the keeper to put Luton 3 – 1 up and end the game with the home side clear winners. This weekend’s ‘Moment’ award was given to Suraya Yusuf for her apparent gravitational attraction to being hit with the ball, whilst the ‘Player’ award’s clear winner was Helen Beattie, whose superb goal left the team wondering if her position as a goalkeeper was something they should think about changing.