Cambridge United (Home)

The second clash of the season against Cambridge United was as lively an affair as the first and a frantic second-half that yielded four goals eventually felt like a defeat as the U’s fought back from 0-2 down to snatch a point with a last-gasp equaliser.

Although the eventual result was disappointing and left us ‘gutted’ at the end, we personally had a cracking day.  With our friend Mendel back from Afghanistan for a two-week ‘rest and relaxation’ period before he sets off back out there until next April, we took the opportunity to get an executive box for the game.  Knowing Mendel was back, it made sense to do it and we thought it would be a nice surprise for him and make the day that extra bit special.

The Matchday Programme (priced at £3.00)

Mendel and his girlfriend, Claire, arrived at my house at 12.30pm as we planned to get into the executive box bar for 1pm.  However, Batesy and his fiancée, Sarah, were stuck in traffic on their way from Chelmsford and, as we were all jumping in their car so we could have a drink or two, we had to wait for them!  We arrived in Luton at 1.35pm, parking in our reserved space in the executive boxes car park in Kenilworth Road and then making the short walk up to the executive box entrance in the wind and rain.

We headed straight for the bar and had a few drinks each whilst the Liverpool v Manchester City game was played on the large screens.  Mendel’s girlfriend Claire was looking forward to seeing the match as she had never been to a live football game of any sorts in her life!  Sarah, on the other hand, loves her football and has already been to a few Luton matches with us this season.

At this point, I pointed out to Mendel that he was in the programme, which he was very surprised about but seemed really happy and grateful for.  At this point, I would like to thank the club, particularly Stephen Browne and Andrew Barringer for putting the message and photograph into the programme at such short notice.  It really did mean a lot and just made the day that little bit more special and personal, especially to Mendel.  I know the prospect of spending Christmas and the next five months in Afghanistan isn’t particularly appealing for him so it was great that he could see we cared and that the team he supports had made such an effort.  So, once again, a big thank you to Luton Town Football Club.  This is exactly why we support this great club – could you see Manchester United, for example, making such an effort for one of their troops?

For those of you that didn’t see the note in the programme and are actually bothered (!), it read…

 

“Rest and Relaxation for Town Trooper – Hatters fan Stuart Mendelson has been in Afghanistan since the beginning of September and is back for a two-week rest and relaxation period before flying back out.  The Royal Engineer will be spending Christmas over there and will be based until April 2010.  Stuart is being surprised by his friends and girlfriend Claire and has been treated to a day in an executive box at this afternoon’s match.  I’ve attached a photo of Stuart in Afghanistan with actor Ray Winstone, who was out there to lift the troop’s morale.”

 

Mendel in the Programme

We headed for our box at about 2.50pm (with drinks in hand!) and were told by a steward that we had to “put the blind down” because we were drinking alcohol (not quite sure why?).

The first-half performance was nothing to write home about, but we started the second-half very brightly indeed.  In fact, for the first half an hour or so of the second period we dominated the game and scored twice, firstly through a fine finish from Claude Gnakpa and then a superb strike from long distance by Tom Craddock.  How he needed that!

However, we then pressed the self destruct button (again) and just minutes after going 2-0 in front, we allowed Cambridge substitute Danny Crow to pull a goal back with nine minutes left.  Fred Murray, against his former club, then conceded a penalty.  Needless to say it caused some angry scenes both on and off the pitch and in executive box number 1 the Hatters fans were subjected to some chanting from the travelling Cambridge fans.  However, the Luton boys in box 1 had the last laugh as Kevin Pilkington saved the penalty from U’s top scorer Chris Holroyd.

Amazingly though, two minutes into injury-time, Murray headed a free-kick back against his own post and, with a U’s player following in at an angle, Kevin Nicholls stupidly took away his legs and conceded a second penalty.  Cue at this point more mad scenes in the away end, aimed especially at box number 1.  This time Crow stepped up and he sent Pilkington the wrong way to make it 2-2.

The final whistle blew soon after and we left the ground absolutely gutted and feeling like we had lost the match.  Certainly two points dropped.
The performance had been much better though and the signs were encouraging.  However, I can’t help thinking that we aren’t going to win this league when we are conceding 2-0 leads at home (talk about state the obvious James!).

At the end of the game, Mendel’s girlfriend, Claire, said she enjoyed it so much she would like to come to Mansfield Town on the Tuesday night, so maybe we have made a new Hatters fan!

James

The Matchday Programme (priced at £3.00)

Mendel in the Programme

Grays Athletic (Away)

Saturday was here and another away game. I was dreading this one, not because of how Luton had been performing but because the ground looked awful on the Internet. Weather was supposed to be bad too which made today even harder to face – but face it we did.

For the first time this season, James and I headed up to the grounds separately, which I have to be honest, was really boring! James got there first and headed for the snooker club, “Riley’s”, which was the only place open near the ground to get a beer!

The Matchday Programme (priced at £3.00)

I arrived shortly afterwards and, as I got out of the car, I noticed I had missed calls and texts from a few people saying the game was off, then the game was on. Very confusing! Luckily I had found a car park near the ground so I asked one of the stewards if the game was on and was told it would definitely go ahead.  The weather was, meanwhile, absolutely dire, the rain was teeming down and there was a very strong wind.

The news the game would go ahead though had put me in better spirits as I was starting to panic that the game was going to be called off.

Anyways, I headed to a pub in the town centre called “Queens” that James and his dad had managed to find was open.  After a few drinks, (Coca-Cola for me as usual), we headed for the ground.

What a ground it was! It was worse than I had anticipated and the most pleasuring sight I have seen all season was the fact that the players came out of the ground floor of a block of flats! There were flats nearly the whole way down one side of the pitch. I thought to myself that if you were a Grays fan then what a place to live! Just pop out on the balcony every home game and you could watch it for free.

About five minutes to kick-off I realised why the home team had been struggling this season. Where were all their fans? The Home end was so dead I could count them all. 54 there were and what was worse was that the other home stand wasn’t busy either.  Hatters fans were congregated on a small terraced stand behind one goal, and in three quarters of a small seated stand along one side of the pitch, and a small terraced area at the opposite side of the ground.

The players came out and, as we had been taking through the announcement of the line-ups, we quickly worked out the team that Richard Money had put out.  Where was Asa Hall and Ed Asafu-Adjaye? Why was Nwokeji on the bench and not in the starting line-up after his recent arrival? I felt sorry for Shane Gore as he had played well the previous game and a lot of us felt he should have started this game as a reward but I didn’t question too much as I have to give a little faith to Richard Money as he is new in post.  Gore had been dropped for new signing Kevin Pilkington.

So as the game kicked off the inevitable started happening with both teams trying to welly the ball up top. I didn’t blame them. With the windy conditions I would have been tempted to do the same.

After the first 20 minutes I was getting frustrated, not with the way we were playing, but every time we had a goal kick all the players went too far up the pitch and the keepers kicks were causing players to panic. You would think that after the first couple of goal kicks the players would realise that Pilkington couldn’t get the ball over the halfway line but they just didn’t learn!

So after a pretty poor first 30 minutes both teams, especially Luton, were starting to get used to the wind and about 5 minutes before half-time Luton were ahead. Craddock had scored. About time! Grays had been a very poor side from what I could remember from the FA Cup game and they were looking no better here.

It got to half-time and James went to get some food and see his mate Edd and I went for a cigarette.

The second-half was a bit better than the first but the weather was making the play very lethargic.  Gallen scored a second for us shortly after the break and we basically shut up shop after that. Nwokeji came on for a brief stint and looked lively and another 3 points were secured. James and his dad had left just before the end as they had a party to head to so that left me with the short drive back to Chelmsford.

So Cambridge was the next game and I was looking forward to that. One it was my Birthday and two our mate Mendel was back from Afghanistan to watch it with us. Let’s hope we put on a good performance for him and get some more points on the board.

Come on you Hatters up the league we go!

Batesy

The Matchday Programme (priced at £3.00)