Luton Town v Crewe Alexandra

[Maple Hatter]

Today could be the day we get the three points required for promotion. 83 points should really be enough. Will have to wait until next Saturday perhaps to guarantee it though. The last two results should fill us with confidence and lift any tension that may have otherwise been in the air. Our opponents today are ideal in that they have nothing to play for. Rather that than a team fighting for their lives at the bottom or a promotion rival. NJ believes it will be a tough game, but managers say that about every fixtture. In fact is it has become a standard phrase. Granted Crewe beat Mansfield away last week, but I suspect that was due mainly to Mansfields poor run of form of late. Crewe meet a team today who should be motivated at a ground where the volume will be turned up to full blast. Of course you can never take anything for granted in this game and we have shown this season a lack of consitency especially in fixtures where we have been expected to win. That said I have predicted a comfortable win.
As for the line up. Same as I suspect. It seems NJ has decided to go with an attacking line up of late which I applaud. Not sure why Cornick hasnt been given a run. Can only presume this down to fitness. Otherwise same front line. Good to see Hytlon back scoring and with Collins and Lee in form the potential is there for a few goals today. Certainly won't be a 0-0. Didn't think Pelly had a particularly good game at Yeovil but his Mansfield performance should secure his place.
A nervy time for us supporters at the moment and no doubt we will be looking at results elsewhere. The players I hope will concentrate purely on the game. Promotion has been in our own hands for quite some time now. COYH!

 

[Kenneth E End]

I don't think Cornick not playing a part is anything sinister; I just think he's behind those in possession - the front three being into the 50s now.

Crewe have one of the worst defences in the division - playing at Kenilworth Road where we've been free scoring. I think we're overdue a big big win.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Well this seems a foregone conclusion. Congrats.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Well this seems a foregone conclusion. Congrats.

Hardly.

 

[Devon_Lad]

Come on Crewe! You beat the Hatters and we win today and we're only 5 points behind with a game in hand!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

We might have a horrific defence, but all in all since 1997 we've only conceded less than 60 goals a season twice (both promotion campaigns, even though the latter we still conceded 59 goals and the former was the only time we've conceded less than a goal a game in our history).

So a horrific defence is what teams will always face against us, however we've gone back how we used to be pre-Davis under Artell, especially these last few months. We now score goals at will even if our defending is a state and we certainly won't fear Luton. In the last few months we've put 4 past a Lincoln side who had an impeccable home record on their patch and last week we put 4 past Mansfield in 25 minutes. As a nipper, I remember us putting 4 past a decent Luton side as well on their own turf, although our squad is nowhere near as good as that one was on that day in 2003.

I'm gonna go for a heroic 3-2 defeat today in a topsy turvy game.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Oh would you look at that for a nice surprise...

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

And normal service resumed.

 

[oakroader]

Choo choo....
All aboard....

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Meh, expected, anything we got today was a bonus. Onwards to Morecambe at home.

 

[Kenneth E End]

So about 15 minutes before the game started, the players are doing the usual shooting practice. Pelly Ruddock in his usual self blasts them into all parts of the Kenilworth Road end. He then starts smashing them into the top corner with sarcastic cheers from the Luton fans as they were coming into the ground.

Elliot Lee just before half time curls one in from 20 yards too, which in most games would've gone down as the goal of the game. 6 minutes into the second half Pelly blasts one in from 35 yards out!

Good performance for the first 60 minutes, which like at Yeovil last week, Luton go a bit flat, enter cruise mode and just shut up shop.

 

[Kenneth E End]

I'm sure Luton are having a goal of the season competition with themselves this season...

https://twitter.com/Channel5Sport/status/985201654101241856

 

[Maple Hatter]

Good game of football today against a Crewe side who came to play and made a good game of it. In fact I was quite impressed with them and at times they caused us problems. The better side won however. 22 shots on goal in an open game shows the attacking intent we had today. Crewe scoring woke us up a bit. Thought we had chances before that but we didn't look convincing in front of goal. After the wake up call we played with more urgency and when Hylton scored with his close range effort to put us level I felt we would go on to win. Then came two class goals. Didn't think we would score a better goal than Elliot Lees effort but Pelles 30 yarder was something else. What a game Pelly had by the way. Fully deserved his MoM award particularly second half. In the end we could have won by more but lets not be greedy. All set up for next week away at Carlisle unless Exeter fail to beat Chesterfield. It does feel however we are there already. The 83 point target should be enough.

 

[Maple Hatter]

I'm sure Luton are having a goal of the season competition with themselves this season...

https://twitter.com/Channel5Sport/status/985201654101241856

Thought Elliots goal was very Luke Berryesque. The crowd reaction after Pelles goal says it all. They were willing that effort to go in. He does divide our support a bit though. There are those who vent their frustration when things don't go well and use him as a bit of a scapegoat and others who would love to see him suceed. Even his critcs can't deny the positive influence he has had on the team in the last two home games. Top effort Pelly!

 

[JJ1532]

Meh, gave a good account of ourselves against a League One bound side. Thought despite chances we'd done well in keeping Luton at arms length.
Bowery pounced on a defensive slip up and put in a calm finish. Worst thing we did was score though, woke Luton up. They upped the tempo and scored 2 goals before half time, 2nd was a stunning finish. Shame we couldn't get to half time level.
2nd half they get an early 3rd(another cracker) and you are worried they'd run away with it, but we battled back and made a game of it. Got into a lot of promising positions but lacked the quality to make them count. Luton could have made it more comfortable, but think 3-1 was a fair enough score.
Luton were the better team, had more quality in the key areas and took their chances whereas we didn't. You can see why they are going up.
Proud of the performance though, competed hard and could have had a couple more goals. Oh well, if we produce what we did today in our next 3, I'll be happy. Fair play to Artell for going for it from the start and during the game. Could have shut up shop and protected the goal difference, but he went for it.
Can't say I'll be disappointed to not be going back there next season though, what an awful walk to the ground and what dump Kenilworth Road is. That away end is the worst away end in the league by far. They can't move soon enough.
Still, best of luck next season Hatters, got a good team there, can see them doing ok in League One. Got the fan base and infrastructure to cope ok, just need to sort out the stadium asap.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Meh, gave a good account of ourselves against a League One bound side. Thought despite chances we'd done well in keeping Luton at arms length.
Bowery pounced on a defensive slip up and put in a calm finish. Worst thing we did was score though, woke Luton up. They upped the tempo and scored 2 goals before half time, 2nd was a stunning finish. Shame we couldn't get to half time level.
2nd half they get an early 3rd(another cracker) and you are worried they'd run away with it, but we battled back and made a game of it. Got into a lot of promising positions but lacked the quality to make them count. Luton could have made it more comfortable, but think 3-1 was a fair enough score.
Luton were the better team, had more quality in the key areas and took their chances whereas we didn't. You can see why they are going up.
Proud of the performance though, competed hard and could have had a couple more goals. Oh well, if we produce what we did today in our next 3, I'll be happy. Fair play to Artell for going for it from the start and during the game. Could have shut up shop and protected the goal difference, but he went for it.
Can't say I'll be disappointed to not be going back there next season though, what an awful walk to the ground and what dump Kenilworth Road is. That away end is the worst away end in the league by far. They can't move soon enough.
Still, best of luck next season Hatters, got a good team there, can see them doing ok in League One. Got the fan base and infrastructure to cope ok, just need to sort out the stadium asap.

Can't really disagree with anything there. I think when we scored our third, we just wanted to make sure we didn't go too gun-ho, make certain of the win and make absolutely sure there was no way back for Crewe. I felt we went a bit negative and could've gone up through the gears if necessary.

One thing on Artell - I struggle to think of an opposition manager this season moaning at the fourth official and referee as much as he did for nothing incidents today.

 

[Kenneth E End]

So Jordan Bowery, Sean McConville and Kane Hemmings all rush towards the corner of the Kenilworth Road end telling the crowd to sshh and attempt to wind them up.

Danny Hylton points towards his back after scoring and holds onto the ball slightly too long for a throw in and results in 2 yellow cards in 2 games.

He is being penalised for being Danny Hylton.

 

[JJ1532]

One thing on Artell - I struggle to think of an opposition manager this season moaning at the fourth official and referee as much as he did for nothing incidents today.

He's been doing it all season, it's my biggest annoyance with it. I'm trying to like him, but watching him whinge like a baby over throws ins and corners is embarrassing. Doesn't seem to be learning or improving either.

 

[Bosox]

Man of the Match in back to back home games when it was starting to look like everything could be going tits up for Luton... I think a few people might just owe Pelly an apology.

Danny Hylton points towards his back after scoring and holds onto the ball slightly too long for a throw in and results in 2 yellow cards in 2 games.

He is being penalised for being Danny Hylton.

Agree on the inconsistency on the bookings for celebrating but Hylton earned his booking today and was massively lucky not to have been sent off. Not just for the foul seconds after he got the booking but also for the shove he gave the ref as he was being subbed.

Just look at Jones's comments after the game, he's clearly massively frustrated that he can't get through to Hylton that he needs to engage his brain at times like that.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Personally I couldn't care how Artell acts on the sidelines, he's not here to make friends, he's here to reintroduce an attacking brand of football and get the best out of the young lads, something our previous manager definitely didn't do in the slightest. The season hasn't been great (a mixture of his fault and not his fault at all) but he's learned a few things or two this season which, has allowed us to finish strongly this last third of the season or so.

Saw a few of our fans moaning about our defence after the defeat today, but we had a defensive manager for 5 years who conceded goals for fun whilst not scoring. If we're gonna have a shit defence as we do every year, then I'd rather score goals than play for 1-0s hoping for the best. Likewise, I'd rather have an animated manager who cares rather than the statuesque, morbidly depressing, excuse making, passionless Davis irrespective of Artell's faults.

Happy safety is more or less secured, finish the season on a high with three very winnable games and make the tweaks needed to have a better season next time round. I think after realising that signing other young players to go with our current young players in midfield and not signing natural fullbacks, Dave will correct his errors next season to put us in a healthier position next year.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I thought Crewe looked decent. As has been said in this thread, they came and had a real go at us which is rare at the Kenny. Suspect defensively as a result but had some very presentable chances themselves, on another day could have been 5-3 or something. Thought the number 10 was a real handful all day, ran the channels very well and caused us a lot of problems.

 

[djs]

I know that this won't particularly cheer Crewe fans up too much, but I thought what a really nice change it was to see an away team turn up and try to play football, rather than the horrible anti football, 'game managing', time wasting, play acting, fake injuries, etc, etc that we've seen from the vast majority of sides this season, particularly Wycombe, Lincoln, Coventry, Mansfield, Cheltenham, etc, and even the current darlings, Accrington. Some of Crewe's play was really good to watch and made for an open and entertaining game.
Thanks, and best of luck next season.

(PS - get your manager to shut up moaning at the officials, and get on with his own job.)

 

[Soz]

So Jordan Bowery, Sean McConville and Kane Hemmings all rush towards the corner of the Kenilworth Road end telling the crowd to sshh and attempt to wind them up.

Danny Hylton points towards his back after scoring and holds onto the ball slightly too long for a throw in and results in 2 yellow cards in 2 games.

He is being penalised for being Danny Hylton.

Danny Hylton is a cheating bell end. It's fair enough Danny Hylton is given a yellow card for being Danny Hylton.