Desire, passion, and belief

Saturday afternoon and LTHC Men’s 1st team still had the lingering taste of defeat from the previous match. Like any other week, it was a game we needed to win. It was always going to be tough but we knew the job we had to do.

Stevenage started us off, a team that seemed more energetic and determined from the start. I don’t really remember the first goal going in but it was probably shambolic. HOWEVER, the second goal for Stevenage can only be compared to the Biblical scriptures of Moses parting the damn Red Sea. Moses was able to trot into the top of the D with a Luton player walking, yes walking, behind him making no attempt to tackle. Ryan was not happy.

Anyways, halftime came, it was a promising 1st half but we should not have been 2-0 down. A motivating team talked stirred the desire to fight back. And that’s exactly what Luton did.

Luton started aggressively, with a Roberto Firmino-esque performance by Ryan Patel. The infamous Gegenpress was initiated and Stevenage had no answer. Luton hunted in packs, hounding the full backs into errors and the barrage of pressure was finally rewarded by a penalty corner for Luton. The initial PC was taken by David “Hot Sister” Pike for the keeper to only spill it back into the mixer and Dave to take a second shot, squeezing it past the keeper. The comeback had commenced.

Garry “Busquets” Newman started pulling the strings. Luton found the corners well and started playing the hockey we knew, stretching the play and not dribbling up our own bottoms. The second goal came by Luton pressing high on the oppositions 16. Once again Ryan Patel pressed hard forcing the peasant left back to play a suicide pass back to their centre back only to be confronted against the lanky twiglet Kieran “Kerioene” Whitehall. With a Frank Lampard vs Germany 2012 World Cup effort he pinged the ball top right, underside of the crossbar and across the line. This time the umpire wasn’t blind and gave the goal (Cheers Phil!). 2-2.

Mark D’Cruz decided he wanted an Oscar Nomination for ‘Most Dramatic Death on a Hockey pitch’ after almost being split in half. Azmat Rashid wanted to audition for Swan Lake with a double twirl in the D too. Unfortunately, Mark did not win an Oscar and Azmat didn’t make the cut. Maybe next week....

Apologies for the digression. Luton could sense the win and were relentless for the last 10 minutes. Once again Luton realised how to upgrade and another PC was won and efficiently converted by Dave. 3-2 up and in command. Apart from some squeaky bum time moments (David Pike I’m looking at you), Luton managed the game well. Three hard-fought points earned. Up the Town!

MOM Dave for the 2 goals and DOD Sam for some horrendous tackling. Stay tuned for next weeks episode of ‘Can Luton win without making it so damn hard’.