LTHC Mens 3s V Hertford 4s: 5th November 2022

Luton inexplicably did not start the game well; they were lethargic and didn’t get out of first gear with far too many passes finding white shirts instead of red and it wasn’t long before they were punished heavily. Hertford came with a game plan and executed it brilliantly in the first half, with a very impressive 3 out of 3 conversion ratio regarding penalty corners, their clinical drag flicker claiming a hat-trick before the break to go in 3 goals to the good.

Thankfully half time gave Luton’s players time to reflect on what they were doing, or more to the point what they weren’t doing and suddenly they looked like a different team, they were holding onto the ball, finding an extra yard, chasing the ball down and not rushing their passes, which was a very welcome site. They started to recycle the ball to the wings, slowly building the attack then the game started to open up, as did the Hertford defence which led to Luton’s first goal when after some short, sharp passes from back to front the ball found Clive whose cannoned the ball into the danger zone, it ricocheted to Alfie who from a tight angle managed to squeeze the ball between the post and their goalie; 1-3.

As the minutes ticked on Luton pushed higher & higher up the pitch to press Hertford and were rewarded when Rory found Luke with a lovely pass at the top of Hertford’s D and with a flick of his wrist Luke landed the ball onto the stick of Jimbo who made a diagonal dashing run across their goalie and volleyed the ball into the roof of the net – a fantastic goal!

Was the comeback on at 2-3? Sadly not, it was too little too late, as Hertford found the back of the Luton net a further two times before the final whistle went and the game ended 2-5 to Hertford, who were deserved winners and the best ‘team’ Luton have faced so far this season.

The positive that Luton can take from this game is that after such a poor first half going in at 0-3, they improved significantly in the second half and made a game of it with a 2-2 second half result – they just need to find that drive & determination from the first whistle to the last now.

MOTM: Charlie Sage