Luton shoot down Eagles

Luton seem to have the ‘sign` over Crystal Palace, completing a convincing third straight win over the hapless Eagles. Edwards and Vine were the scorers for The Town, and Scowcroft`s late late consolation was the last touch of the game barring Luton`s kick to restart.

Luton started brightly and had the ball in the net for the first goal of the day (from 3 p.m. matches!), after only 1 minute 15 seconds.

Sam Parkin was given his first start for the club since his £340,000 move from Ipswich Town, while Shefki Kuqi, a deadline day late signing for £2.5 million, debuted for Palace. I know which one looked the better player and the better value!

When Sol Davis floated the ball long, from a free kick, it was Parkin who glanced the ball on with his head and Vine may have just touched it on again, into the path of Edwards` well timed run, and as the Palace defence appealed vainly for the Assistant`s flag to go up, Edwards slotted it home for the early lead.

Two minutes later Parkin released Davis on a run down the left and from the edge of the box, Davis appeared indecisive as to whether to shoot or pass and seemed to do neither as his cross-cum-shot was just missed by Parkin.

Luton were looking well in command and Palace looked a little in shock. However, the visitors began to retain the ball in an effort to slow down Luton`s pace and incisiveness, and it worked quite well for them, although it strangled the life out of the game.

Despite Palace`s possession, it was fully 5 minutes before Beresford got a touch of the ball in play, and Luton still looked happy to let Palace have the ball in deep situations, but defended superbly whenever Peter Taylor`s men came forward, and then hit the visitors swiftly on the break.

On 15 minutes, Langley released Robinson for a shot on goal, but he couldn`t find the target, as chances became very few and far between.

It was fully half an hour before Beresford had to make a save, when Soares found Kennedy, but his shot was straight at the Luton custodian, before their best chance, a Hughes strike, was headed acrobatically off the line by Sol Davis just before half time.

Crystal Palace were not going to be caught cold in the second half and they made what appeared to be an organised forward assault to try to get the goal back early in the half. They won a corner and Kennedy placed the ball on the head of Hudson who nodded it over the bar.

Despite the Palace pressure, Luton looked comfortable in their lead and were not taking unnecessary chances. Some solid defending by all four of the rearguard stifled any half chances made by Palace, but in particular Leon Barnett and Sol Davis were solid. Foley had less defending to do, but used the opportunity to get forward well and often and caused problems to the away defence. Linking with Edwards, who gave Granville an afternoon he`d like to forget, Foley almost managed a goal himself, but after his mazy run, his attempt was blocked at the last minute at the expense of a corner.

Luton gradually came into the ascendancy again, and on the hour, Robinson chipped a delightful ball into the area, and Vine ghosted past Hudson to drill it between the keeper and his post.

Taylor threw everything into attack, bringing on Dougie Freedman and Clinton Morrisson, for Kuqi and Butterfield, but that only served to wreck their shape, and Luton should have scored, on the break, a couple of times.

However, Palace did look livelier, if shapeless, and they might have scored themselves on a few occasions, but a mixture of poor touch and good stoic defending kept them out, until Cort rose majestically to power a header towards the Luton goal on 80 minutes, from a free kick by Kennedy. With Beresford beaten by the sheer power of the header, Cort could only cringe, as the ball cannoned off the underside of the bar and out to safety.

Palace had two good shouts for penalties waved away by the referee, towards the end, one for handball, which, while I`ve seen them given, was never deliberate as a shot cannoned off a defender`s arm, but the second one, when Scowcroft tumbled after a challenge by Foley, looked dangerously like a penalty to me. However, Mr Armstrong was consistently lenient all day, and the players seemed to react well to him, until Scowcroft launched Barnett into the Oak Road crowd twice in a few minutes. I think the ref gave him the benefit of the doubt on the first one, but the second saw the issuing of the only yellow card of the day.

Just before the end of normal time Lewis Emanuel shot fiercely, but saw his attempt well saved by Gabor Kiraly. It fell to Feeney, on as sub, who brought it down and scored beautifully, only for the late flag of the Assistant Referee to rule it out for offside.

Palace were not going to give in and kept coming forward right to the end, but still the Luton defence held out bravely.

Somehow the referee found five minutes of added time and, in the final throes of the match, Soares, who had gone missing for most of the second half, finally got in a cross which Scowcroft latched on to, to score, but there was only time left after that for Luton to kick off, before the final whistle was blown.



Overall Luton were well worth their victory and all the Town players can be proud of their performances.