Match Details

Reports

Considering they were bankrupt and were wondering if they were going to enter the League this season, it is a magnificent achievement that they are not only able to field a side, but field one that is capable to performing with such a high degree of skill, pace and motivation.

We may well rightly scoff at their crappy ground and facilities, but this only serves to underline further the magnitude of their achievement out there on the pitch, not just on Saturday but over the last twenty years, one based on the principle of producing quality players through their youth system and if they are good enough, giving them a go. I wonder where they got that idea from?

The second thing to note about Luton is the youthfulness of their team, with only one player over thirty, their skipper Marvin Johnson, and seemingly only one player bought in, Julian Watts at centre back, the rest of the side was comprised entirely of recent youth team products, although one of their senior pros Phil Gray was injured. Thirdly this team just didn't run around aimlessly and enthusiastically chasing and harrying etc., all players seemed to have a degree of comfort on the ball, got it down and knocked it around with great proficiency.

Consequently right from the off the aging Clarets line-up, (six players starting over 30) were up against it. Nevertheless the first thirty minutes the side looked comfortable, the major problem being the amount of times the ball was given away needlessly when under little or no pressure, the main culprit being Armstrong, whose distribution was variable. I also thought that Cook, was guilty of this, as was Mellon., which was disappointing, as against a youthful hard running side such as Luton possession needs to be maintained as a lot of energy can be expended retrieving it again. Frankly what is the point of fielding experienced players if they behave like inexperienced ones?

Make no mistake the Clarets were lucky to go in 0 - 0 at half time, as the back line were exposed by the explosive breaks of the George from just behind the front two, joining up with the mobile Douglas and on loan Midgeley, who fluffed a good chance before taking his brace. Moreover the back post corner exposed Crichton's indecisiveness & weakness in the air and it was from one of these only Cook's magnificent stop on the line kept the Admirable's sheet clean.

Luton's goal came soon after the break with Luton cunningly exposing our lumbering defence for pace and exploiting the channel between the full back and the centre halves, to set up the chance. Number two was similar, but as Pat pointed out both goals appeared to be instigated by careless play in midfield.

The most surprising thing about the second half was the way the lads ripped up the plans after the first goal went in and went for the opposition. This certainly was not in the Ternent text book and it was nice to see the players taking control out on the pitch. The fact that they were repelled was due to the rock solid Luton back three and the relatively poor performance of the Guvnor, who was virtually anonymous on Saturday and a pale shadow of himself. One can only speculate what is up with Payton, it may be the presence of Cooke, an injury he is carrying, old age or more of his off-field shenanigans, however the net result is a down turn in performance from the peerless display against Scunthorpe. It might even be fair to debate at the moment the lack of a decent partner for the on-fire Cooke rather than the other way round.

Indeed the arrival of Jeppo on for Armstrong added a missing dimension for the Clarets up front I thought, however the final delivery into the box was lacking, too many high balls for my liking, easily devoured by the tall Luton defenders.

Late on Stan really went for it by subbing both full backs and played two at the back for the last five minutes with Branch replacing the lacklustre Payton. Luton must have known they had won when this happened. Nevertheless from one of the countless free kicks,corners and punts, Davis did get his bonce on to one ball Full Monty, only to find their goalie up to it making a low save to his left. Whilst a point would have been most welcome, there is no doubt that on the day, Luton were marginally the better side.

However it was a cracking game of football and the Burnley crowd were quick to acknowledge the part our team had played in the contest, it was end to end stuff and could have gone either way, in the event their finishing was more clinical and their extra pace punished the Claret's mistakes more ruthlessly than we did to them.

So beaten but far from disgraced, however the Clarets are clearly at a disadvantage against the zippier, play it on the ground sides like Luton, than some of the less complicated Route One sides around. One other point is that Stan was forced into fielding his one left sided player at left back and a plainly right sided player in the shape of Mullin in front of him.

The Clarets have been unlucky in that Smith, Cowan and Johnrose were unavailable. The inclusion of one or a couple of these would have perhaps evened out the differences and given the side more solidity and attacking edge down the left flank.

Finally one of my favourite moments from the game was the sight of Jeppo bollocking former Premiership and England "B" full back Mitchell Thomas for hesitating whether or not to go up for a free kick late during kitchen sink time. What a star! When you look at some of the dildos we have had up front over the years, why didn't the club splash out the nominal 80k that Rocket Ron regularly changed hands for 5 - 10 years ago? The first step would be to get rid of Docherty and put him in charge of the youth team or reserves.

Blackpool next and despite their recent revival I expect the Clarets to see them off and re-gain the momentum.

Up the Clarets

Igor

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