Luton v Watford – Blast From The Past (2)

In a little over four weeks, Kenilworth Road will welcome Watford for a hugely anticipated local derby match.

Here at Vital Luton Town, keen to build up the momentum to the appallingly media named M1 derby, we are continuing with a look back at some memorable moments the Hatters have enjoyed against our local rivals.

The first in our series – luton-v-watford-blast-from-the-past-1 – looked back at a fixture Luton won, 4-1, back in the 1981/1982 season.

For the second in our series, we have chosen a fixture from the 1984/1985 season, but this is a far from normal fixture.

In the aforementioned season, the two clubs were drawn to face each other in the 5th round of the FA Cup, but when the draw was made little did, we know it would prove to be such a titanic tussle, consisting of 3 games in 5 days before the sides could be separated, something that would not happen these days.

The first game, on 04-March-1985, saw the sides draw 0-0 a Kenilworth Road, on 06-March-1985, the Hatters came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 to force a third game which took place on 09-March-1985.

For the game, David Pleat selected the following:

Team – Les Sealey, Tim Breaker, Mitchell Thomas, Wayne Turner, Steve Foster, Mal Donaghy, Ricky Hill, Brian Stein, Mick Harford, Emeka Nwajiobi, Garry Parker

Sub – David Moss

After a goalless first half, the game sprung into life in the 58th minute when a sublime through ball from Garry Parker saw Wayne Turner drive a low shot past Tony Coton and into the net.

It was to be the only goal of the game and Luton had secured a place in the quarter finals of the competition a feat celebrated at the end of the game by a good-natured pitch invasion.

Highlights of the game can be enjoyed below; can you see yourself among the Hatters support?

That season, the quarter final draw paired Luton with Millwall and what happened that night will always be remembered for the wrong reasons with the Millwall support rioting before, during and after the tie.

Despite the hostility, Luton won that game, thanks to a goal from Brian Stein but were to exit the FA Cup, in dramatic fashion, when they were beaten 2-1, by Everton, in a thrilling semi final at Villa Park.

COYH’s

Previous article by Mad Hatter

Luton – The Hylton And Moncur Dilemma