Strugglers Draw

Luton Town travelled to their first game away from their home town with their biggest squad this season. The luxury of having 4 substitutes seemed short lived however as Robert Maidment was struck powerfully on the ankle to take him temporarily out of action, after only 13 seconds, to be replaced with John Hathaway, who was not back to full fitness after a back issue. With full understanding of Rickmansworths lowly ranking, Town would not have been surprised to have taken the lead with their first solid attack 5 minutes in, with some fine build up play through the midfield, and a stellar pass by Chris May which allowed William King to score his fourth in for games and giving the visitors the lead.

Chris May then fashioned an opportunity of his own when some clumsy Rickmansworth defending allowed the midfielder to shoot powerfully, albeit into the side of the goal. At the other end the defensive efforts of Martin Crimp and Dave Moon were keeping the hosts at bay in the opening exchanges. Eventually Rickmansworth did break through and won themselves the first short corner of the match. The powerful shot that followed flew straight under the stick at the near post to pull the hosts level with only their second gal of the season.

The game became stretched in the remainder of the first half with very few efforts attained by either team.
Half Time Score: Rickmansworth 1-1 Luton Town

A promising start to the second half saw Town on the front foot with battling play from Steven Pierce and Bradley Jackson on the wings gave a couple of minor opportunities to the visitors. At the other end George Ball was cutting out several attacks down the left hand side, but could have been penalised when stumbling to clear the ball and taking down a player I the process. The Hosts then pulled ahead with a smart counter attack left a 3 on 2 and a tap in at the far post. Town almost conceded again when the Rickmansworth striker got away from Luton's defence and was nearly brought down by the visiting keeper Thomas Briggs. The stopper had got the ball however and no penalty was awarded.

At the other end town were now probing fiercely with powerful crosses into the box by Dave Moon and John Hathaway needing only a touch, but none came. Defensively Town now had the better of their opposition despite several small mistakes. In a wild moment Kyle Beirne won the ball strongly before immediately losing it, only to win it back equally as quickly and passing to Russell Maidment who was able to clear.

The visitors thought they had equalised when a powerful shot from Nathan McNeil deflected off the defender, then the goalkeeper before hitting the back board, but the shot was deemed to have been outside the area and so was disallowed. Another opportunity came towns way when John Hathaways cross deflected up off a defender, with Robin Barnes hitting the shoulder-high volley just wide.

Eventually the equaliser did come for the visitors. George Ball cutting off a strong attack and setting Dean Pierce free down the right hand side. The winger seemed trapped in the corner, but won a free hit by playing the ball onto the defenders foot. A quick re-start took 2 Claret players out of the game completely and a powerful cross into the area bypassed the two Luton strikers completely, narrowly missing the foot of Chris May before being turned In superbly by Nathan McNeil to level the score with his first goal of the season.

Luton now seemed to have all of the play but despite several opportunities could not pull ahead.

Final Score: Rickmansworth 2-2 Luton Town

Player Of The Match: Nathan McNeil