Defeats are never palatable, but some hurt far more than others.
Perhaps the level of hurt is distinctively linked to the quality of opposition you lose to.
Yesterday, with the team set to take on Norwich City, at Carrow Road, I sensed that among the Luton support, any thoughts of a Hatters win were minimal, the belief that we would be luck to get a draw was prevalent.
Although Luton had already beaten Norwich City twice this season, the fact that the Canaries had amassed a 10-point lead at the top of the table and were odds-on to get promoted influenced opinion.
When the final whistle sounded, the Hatters walked off the pitch having been on the end of a 3-0 defeat but were by no means shamed by their performance.
Turning to social media, there were very few discouraging comments criticising the team and their performance, more an acceptance that it was always going to happen, as the posts below illustrate:
Can hardly be annoyed at losing to the team walking the league. Few ‘what ifs’ in there but if we’re being honest we were never winning that
— Daniel (@danielmelly_) March 6, 2021
Weren’t expecting to win this. Onto Swansea 👍
— cameronwoodman4 (@smokedogcam) March 6, 2021
Instead, on the back of a resounding defeat, the Hatters support took comfort in what the side had achieved in previous games:
3 points from Forest and Norwich away. Would have snapped your hand off for that.
— Adam Driscoll (@AdamDriscoll92) March 6, 2021
Forest and Sheffield Wed wins meant this was a free hit against a team 10 pts clear at the top. We move on.
— Gerry Dolan (@gdolan19571992) March 6, 2021
Indeed, we do move on and the fixture against Swansea City, next Saturday, at Kenilworth Road, is eagerly awaited.
But, before concluding this article, it is always nice to read decent social media comments from the opposition supporters:
Fair play Luton you gave us a real go, some really threatening periods. Keep playing like this and you may be up there in a promotion fight next season
— 😊 (@thorpeblazer) March 6, 2021
This is what happens when we have our first team btw. Anyway good luck for the rest of the season👍
— Joe K (@Joey77boy2000) March 6, 2021
Thanks, but before finishing, perhaps I should leave you with the following:
We won on aggregate!!!
— matt (@matt39728060) March 6, 2021
Still 6-5 on aggregate ah well
— Harry (@ltfchaz) March 6, 2021
COYH’s
Luton v Swansea?
Luton to Win!
Swansea to Win!
A Draw!
Previous article by Mad Hatter
Luton – Nathan’s Honest Assessment
Morning mh, after reading njs comments about why he set up the way did. Expecting to play Rotherham Tues night and wanting to freshen up ready for that game. He now has a week to come up with a plan to cope with Swansea a physical side like Cardiff an Millwall who we have struggled with all season. So let’s hope he gets it right. An we finally get a result against this sort of team.
i reckon yesterday was one of those games where managers look at the fixtures and think we’l get nowt from that but more likely to get something off Swansea. Was looking forward to another game, on Tuesday, but such is life at the moment.
Hi all, yes can understand Nathan’s thought pattern, targeting the Rotherham game to try & get maximum points. After all if we had beaten Rotherham Tuesday (but now of course when it’s rearranged) & Coventry at home, would have made us virtually safe on 50 points, with perhaps an odd draw elsewhere. It’s a pity, hypothetical as it may seem though, we didn’t begin with the same side that started the Forest match as it would have been interesting to see if we could have run Norwich closer or even nicked something into the bargain although I acknowledge they are a class act & deep down as others have already stated I wasn’t that optimistic regarding our chances. I think if we can pick up again where we left off from the Forest performance against Swansea we can get a result but as we know they are a strong outfit near the top of the table & I think there is a gulf between them, Norwich, Brentford & dare I say our old enemies just a few miles south up the M1, but anything can happen on the day, let’s hope it ends up belonging to the camp at the kenny. COYH
Hi all, I see that the criticism of Collins has started up again. For goodness sake why can’t people see that all forwards have a period where they don’t score and have to work through it even the greatest did have dips. Leave him alone he will come back have no doubts. Also I see gj has begun his campaign at Newcastle to get a better job last week. So my Newcastle contacts are telling me. Thank god our board took the hard knock to get rid of him!!!
Hi Chris, I agree entirely with you, god knows where our club would be if GJ had stayed, languishing at the foot of league 1 perhaps?! It just goes to show that although at times we can question NJ’s tactics there is no doubt he fits in with Luton & has achieved much more here than GJ ever could have. Also yes all strikers have lean spells & he has proven himself at this level too. Maybe expectations are running too high but it is a mark again of how far we have evolvingly improved under NJ. Also maybe players are struggling to adapt to over or under playing? Anybody have any thoughts to add to this?
Hi all, like I said yesterday, half chance for collo hits the post, half chance for pukki he scores…..when things go for you, you get lucky….collo just needs that stroke of luck, even if it goes in off his backside…that will get him buzzing again…could be worse boys, we could be liverpool….lol…