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

Some of Luton’s players are still struggling to get their head around this season new formation, however I can say with 100% certainty that all players tried their best and put a real shift in. Luton found themselves in Letchworth’s D on multiple occasions in the first half but regrettably didn’t have their shooting boots on and their attempts didn’t even bring a save out of Letchworth’s goalie. Following a positive run by Alfie along the baseline Luton were awarded a penalty corner on the 18th minute; a crisp injection from Iain found Clive at the top of the D and he dispatched the ball into the net through the goalies legs. This goal kickstarted Luton into action but just as we were getting up a head of steam an accidental collision took Luke out of the game, and he had to retire with a knee injury. The first half ended 1-0.

Luton juggled the pack in Luke’s absence and pushed Charlie higher up with Carter the highest up the pitch to try to add some stability and bite to our attack, although rustiness played a large part in his few shots that didn’t even trouble their keeper. The game swung from end to end with each team having their spells of dominance, but lady luck was not with us today and midway through the second half Alfie had to retire after taking a knock in the mouth, another reshuffle. Richard stayed out wide on the right and did an excellent job giving us the width we needed which pushed Letchworth back with Syed and Benn now making themselves a constant nuisance to the tiring Letchworth defence.

With only minutes to go following a momentary lapse of concentration led to a stray pass helped Letchworth launch an attack and for one of the very few times found themselves with an overload in our D and capitalised on this mistake punishing Luton with the equaliser. Luton didn’t let their heads drop and wearily battled hard to the end; the game ended 1-1.

We were so close we could smell the win however on reflection a draw was probably a fair result as the game see-sawed throughout the 70 minutes. Luton now need to work on following the high press across the pitch & keeping switched on until the final whistle IF we are pick up more points in the future.

MOM: Clive Whittle