Match Reports

Luton v Swindon report

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Well – what can you say about a game like that? It goes down as one of the dourest I have seen a many a season. Swindon were fortunate to gain all three points because neither side looked like creating anything for most of the game.

Luton were left with nothing and an even bigger task ahead to avoid the drop, but if they play like they did this evening, the drop is a certainty rather than a possibility.

Mick Harford summed it up at the end – there were no excuses, the team worked hard enough but did not deliver their best football on the night against an average looking Robins team.

Luton had just one change from the side that drew with Leeds United at the weekend, with David Bell returning from injury to replace Steve Robinson who was ruled out by the club doctor having sustained concussion.

With very little in the way of options available to Mick Harford, he opted for the 4-3-3 of last Saturday, and with Sam Parkin short of games, and not ready to play 90 minutes of first team football, he adorned the bench once more.

Swindon opened the better of the two teams and Brill was forced into a scrambling save when Aljofree caught him off his line with a speculative effort from way out, and within a minute a Peacock header from Roberts` free kick went narrowly wide. Then Luton began to get into the reckoning, with some good approach play, notably by David Bell, who was always keen to take on a defender, but little danger ensued to the Robins` goal.

A Bell run and snap shot worried the visitors` keeper for a second but it was always drifting wide, and then another skilful move by Bell saw him hit a trademark volley from just inside the penalty area which keeper Brezovan did well to beat out, and when Talbot followed in to net the ball, his celebrations were cut short by the Assistant Referee`s flag. (Couldn`t tell whether it was offside or not from the main stand but it looked a close one.)



Moses Ashikodi had the chance of the game so far when he lost Keane and turned to smash the ball almost out of the ground, but may have been put off by Brill`s late charge towards him.

Swindon had a lot of possession for a while without doing anything constructive with it, until Perry gave the ball away in a dangerous position and Corr missed when he should have at least worked the keeper.

Luton looked jaded and both teams struggled to keep possession for any length of time and by Half time, both teams were lucky to have nil!

A positive reaction by Mick Harford lifted the crowd a little as Morgan and Parkin came on for the second half and we looked forward to some goalmouth action.

Ironically, in the midst of Luton`s best spell of the game so far, Swindon scored, somewhat against the run of play. 6 minutes in saw McGovern find Roberts out wide. He dodged a halfhearted challenge from Goodall, left Perry for pace and hit a great shot past Dean Brill. It was the strongest piece of play all night but the weakest bit of defending, as he should have been sat down in the first place by Goodall.

Swindon were lifted by the goal and dominated play for a while, again without any promise of an end product, and scrappy challenges saw a stop start 15 minutes with no momentum from either side.

Finally with about 15 minutes left, Luton looked like they might just score when Furlong laid off the ball to Parkin, but his shot was mishit miles wide although, to be fair, the pitch had cut up rather badly and the ball seemed to misbehave on the poor surface.



There was no lack of effort but it was just one of those days when nothing gelled and Luton rarely looked like scoring, but then neither did Swindon, and the only really good piece of skill came from Roberts and was good enough to take the points.



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