Luton Town v RochdaleFIRSTLY, I would like to say welcome to Luton Town to Richard Money and co. If the last 8 seasons are anything to go by you are in for a crazy ride.

The Matchday Programme (priced at £3.00)

The Matchday Programme (priced at £3.00)

It was Saturday the 7th November and I was so excited. FA Cup day was here!  I left Chelmsford at around half 11 and headed to Stevenage to get James. After a quick chat to Mr and Mrs Garley we headed off to Luton. On the way we had a quick chat about where we were going to go for pre-match drinks. After some debate I thought it would be a nice change of pace to go ahead to “Stooges” (formerly the “Nelson’s Flagship”). The pub was nice enough but was not too busy. This then led me and James to have a discussion as to why the attendance would not be great today, James saying that the money aspect might be the reason and I was saying that maybe people just thought we would lose (myself being one of them).

Anyway, after a few drinks we headed for the ground at half two, picked up our tickets, programmes and then food. At this point James decided to be different and get a pastie rather than the tried and trusted burgers we have been enjoying all season. What was amusing was that he asked for a cornish and then after getting to our seats realised that it was in fact cheese and onion. This I found highly amusing as, for anyone who knows James, would know he is very set in his routines which prompted me to say “HAHA that’ll teach ya for being different”.

The team sheet was announced and I wasn’t really surprised with the line-up, although Steve Basham starting did shock me a bit. After hearing that Mark Tyler had got injured in the warm-up I just hope he is back soon as he has been quality this season.

Before the game we had a minutes silence, in which both sets of fans were impeccable throughout. The attendance was lower than we had anticipated and we were quite surprised with this bearing in mind it was Money’s first game in charge.

Luton Town Fans in the 'Kenilworth Road' end

Luton Town Fans in the 'Kenilworth Road' end

I wasn’t feeling overly confident that we could beat Rochdale so it came as a huge surprise to me when Basham headed us in front after only 4 minutes. It was lovely play down the left from Gallen and Murray and the cross from Newton was perfect for Basham to head home. What a start! Rochdale tried to put a few attacks together after the restart and I was kind of worried that after taking such an early lead we would try and sit back and soak up the pressure. How wrong could I have been! After breaking up a Rochdale attack the ball broke to Burgess just before the halfway line. After a quick look up he then fed an absolute peach of a pass between the centre-half and right-back to Newton. After a quick first touch, Newton lifted the ball over the oncoming keeper and the ball dropped in the back of the net. 2-0! I could not believe it! Where had this Luton team been all season? Even with so many ‘so called’ first-team players either on the bench or injured we were playing like a league club!

After a quite deserved celebration, the game restarted and Rochdale had a lot of possession as they tried to get a quick goal back. Gnakpa burst down the right and the ball ended up in the box and found its way to Basham, who dispatched a great finish into the far corner of the net. I thought I was dreaming. 3-0 up after 29 minutes. Absolutely sensational. Although we had enjoyed much possession in the early stages of the game, we had been ruthless in front of goal, something we hadn’t been all season. The players then tried to play keep ball and get to half-time without conceding, which we managed to do. The fans were bouncing along and Richard Money must have thought that life could not get any better.

The 355 Rochdale Fans in the 'Oak Road' end

The 355 Rochdale Fans in the 'Oak Road' end

At half-time, after I had been for a cheeky ciggy, James and I briefly reviewed the first-half, as you do, and both came to the conclusion that we were actually quite fortunate having such a healthy lead due to the fact that Rochdale had just had a lot of the first-half possession. But, like most of the season, we had looked solid at the back. White and Blackett were dominant in the air, Burgess had taken the role of playmaker well and Keith Keane was absolutely immense. I then proceeded to text my workmates, West Ham fans, the following: “Bring on the big boys. Easy, easy, easy!” God how I wish I hadn’t! As soon as the second-half started you could tell it was going to be just one-way traffic and, as the game got to about 50 minutes, both Basham and Gallen were starting to get tired. With Keane also having to be taken off at half-time, we had lost our steel in the centre of midfield. So it was no surprise when Rochdale pulled a goal back after 55minutes through Craig Dawson. Please god, don’t let them comeback, I was thinking. Don’t let them come back to 3-3 because then we have to bloody head up there on the 17th!

Then came the moment that, in my eyes, turned the game. We had a corner swung in by Burgess and, after a bit of a scramble, the ball fell to White. He struck it hard towards goal and the ball clearly struck a defenders arm. Now I don’t blame the ref for not seeing it as he was outside the box looking at the back of White but the linesman really should have spotted it. If we had been given that then I have no doubt in my mind that at 4-1 up we would be heading for the Second Round. Instead, this seemed to spur Dale on even more and they were enjoying the majority of the ball. Basham was taken off for Craddock, which I really didn’t see the point of. For those of you who have read these blogs from the start, know I am not Craddock’s biggest fan right now but I really felt that Charles coming on would have been a better thing to do. He has more pace and harasses defenders quicker than Craddock.

The Two Sides in Action

The Two Sides in Action

Rochdale continued to press for a second and they duly got it after 86 minutes through Thompson. It was a sloppy goal and one I am sure that the defence would not be happy with conceding. Then the moment that cost us the game. After a Dale attack broke down, Craddock came forward with the ball and, after a neat one-two with Gallen, found himself through on goal. With only the keeper to beat he shot low but way too close to the keeper and it went behind for a Luton corner. Again he has missed a one-on-one. How many is that for the season, I’ve lost count! I know he was a good player last year but I have stressed all season to James and anyone else I have chatted to about Luton this year that Tom Craddock will not score the goals we need to get out of this league. He has 5 this year, 3 penalties, 1 where he latched on to a poor back pass and the header he scored earlier in the season would have been saved by any half decent keeper. I take the majority of peoples point of view that all he needs is a goal and he’ll be back to banging them in. This may be the case, but how long can we wait until that happens? It could be weeks before he scores a goal. All of the best teams in this league have got a striker that is scoring goals. This was made even worse for me after learning that ex-Hatter Chris Martin scored 4 today for Norwich. Alright, it was only against Paulton Rovers, but you still have to put the ball in the back of the net. If only we could have kept him, although with Martin that was obviously not possible.

Anyway enough of my Craddock bashing, after the second had gone in it was inevitable that they would get a third. Our boys looked tired after all the ball chasing in the second-half and Dale scored a third after 89 minutes through Thompson again.  All three goals came from out right-side, so disappointing. Obviously I was gutted, but after the final whistle went I had to admit that we were out played in the second-half by a team that are challenging for promotion out of League Two. As much as I hate to say it, we are now a non-league club, regardless of where we were previously or what players we have. If they were that good we would be leading the table and we are not!  The final whistle also brought about some boos, although not from us.

So after a pulsating 90 minutes, James and I started heading back now knowing that we would be making the long trip to Rochdale soon on a cold Tuesday night.  More annual leave days wasted at work.  Great (not)! On the radio on the way home, we heard a call come in to BBC Three Counties asking why Money had not bought on Ed Asafu-Adjaye for Gnakpa seeing as he was clearly tired – a point I feel was valid and would like to think that this is just because Money is new to this job and needs time to work out who he likes where etc.

I am not getting on his back, I just hope he gives all of the squad a fair crack of the whip and he is bold enough to make changes at the right time. The last thing we need is another manager who has a set 11 players starting week after week and who doesn’t change things around every now and then. I was also surprised to hear in Money’s interview that he feels that Nicholls and Keane can not both play in midfield.  Something I concur with, but have we the have the balls to drop Nicholls? Keane is a far better holding midfielder in my view and he definitely has the temperament. Only time will tell.

So, Grays Athletic away next Saturday and lets hope we give them a good hiding. They have by far been the worst team I have seen all season.

UP THE HATTERS!

Batesy

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