Luton Town Turn Up The Heat

Luton Town left Blueharts last week, with a 100% record away from home, but begun this week’s fixture without a win at Challney so far. That was a statistic that would have to change if they were to trouble the top 3, which just happened to hold today’s opposition Stevenage. It is always a fiery encounter when these two sides meet, and this time the home side jumped out of the blocks, winning possession early from a Stevenage pushback and threatened early on with 3 short corners in the first 5 minutes, before Luton won their first Penalty Stroke of the season after the ball was blocked by a Stevenage foot on the goal line. Alan Clark did the honours, flicking the ball into the farthest reaches of the top left corner, which was also the destination for his second 3 minutes later after a well worked short corner routine with Robert Maidment left room for the drag flick.

Stevenage seemed lost against the mighty reds who increased their lead still further with a chaotic run of play in the area, which was happily struck by Will Madden for his first of the season. The visitors were barely passing over the half way line but were allowed a chance when a Mis-Communication between Frazer Smith and Russell Maidment left the striker with a 1 on 1 with debutant goalkeeper George Ball who had no chance of saving the resultant shot. Enraged Luton fought back and after a few good exchanges up and down the pitch, including a nearly 1 on 1 between Steven Pierce and the Stevenage goalkeeper, Luton finally broke through again with a rapid counter attack that left Alan Clark, Dean Pierce and Will Madden unchallenged in the area, with Clark’s resultant shot restored the Home Sides 3 goal lead at the interval.

Half Time: Luton Town 4-1 Stevenage

Town had dominated the first half but the second was a completely different story, with the visitors collecting a goal within the first five minutes, and the new found communication between the physical Stevenage gave them an obvious edge. This could not protect them from Luton’s incredible counter attacks however, and Alan Clark, already on a hat-trick netted his fourth not long after Luton’s most recent set-back.
Stevenage were the better side at this point however, and could have pulled even more goals back had it not been for the heroics of goalkeeper George Ball who looked far from rookie, saving shot after shot until finally luck ran out as a rebound from another smart save was picked up by the opposition and although the keeper made contact with the ball, he could not prevent Stevenage’s fourth. And the was further disappointment as a troubled Luton allowed Stevenage into contention, conceding yet another goal within the same minute as the previous.
It looked bad for the home side, but they restored some form after a couple of good substitutions, one of which was Sam James who, despite a lacklustre performance, still netted past Stevenage’s keeper to make the score 6-4 and allow the home side some breathing space.

It seemed that Luton were always destined to have a 3 goal lead, as they scored for the 7th time to wrap up the points, Alan Clarks 5th of the day finishing off the visitors. Stevenage may have been happy to draw the second half, but there was no beating Luton who showed what they could do in front of goal to gain their first home win. Results also went in their favour to leave them Third on goal difference and only 2 points of the league leaders with some promising fixtures ahead.

Final Score: Luton Town 7-4 Stevenage

Man of the Match: George Ball