Luton Town FC - The Story Goes On

The Luton News

Image Courtesy off www.thesecretfootballer.com

The Rise Continues and the Hatters March OnWe were once a dominant force in English football but seemed to lose our way and managed to get rele-gated all the way down to the con-ference. The hatters finally seem to be showing signs of that dominance again in the lower leagues and blitz our way to promotion and winning the conference last season. At long last the fans got that bit of success that they was waiting for, which seemed like a never ending cycle of disappointing season after season. It all started back in 2007 when the town suffered three back to back relegations and ended up in lower league football and into the Conference Premier. The finan-cial funding and getting 40 points deducted in two seasons didn’t help matters either. The long hefty weight of five years and three inef-fective play-off campaigns finally ended last season when they were crowned champions of the Confer-ence Premier last season. During that blunt period of Luton Towns football history the town managed to conquer the Johnston’s Paint Trophy in 2009, a brilliant run in the cup that gave the fans a chance to visit Wembley and give them the satisfaction of winning a cup that they had craved for years. With each high comes a low and the town narrowly missed out on promotion that season losing out in the play offs. Richard Kilduff, 60, a lifelong fan of Luton Town said “that cup run back in 2009 was brilliant; we finally managed to win a trophy

after years of despair and agony. The final against Scunthorpe was like a fairytale, and winning 3-2 in extra time was part of the script, it was magical.” He added, “back in 1989 I still remember when we managed to beat Arsenal 3-2 in the league. It felt just as good, and it was just a coincidence that our manager at the time Mick Harford played in that winning team 25 years ago. I just tell myself it was part of the script. Coming up to the Christmas period Luton currently are sitting in fourth place in League Two and are only four points adrift from leaders Wycombe. The town would have taken that if told at the beginning of the season. Being the newly promoted side they have been on a fantastic run and have seemed to carry on the form from last season, winning 11 games and only losing 5. Howev-er the Christmas period were the games come in abundance will show the real character of the squad and show if they have the nerve to claim back to back promotions. In form striker Mark Cullen is the leading scorer this season for Luton scoring 9 goals in all com-petitions. Being just 22 years old many thought that he wouldn’t be able to replace Andre Gray who was the top scorer last season and that it would be too big of a task. Cullen has stepped up and it is shining through his magnificent perfor-mances this season. The 22 year old started of his

career at Hull City and went through their youth system, making several appearances for the first team; how-ever he was released by Hull in 2013. Andre gray and Paul Benson kept him out the first team last season, but Cullen made an impact at the end of last season when Luton needed him at the latter stages of their promo-tion. He went on to score three goals in five games and helped Luton clinch the title and win the league.

Luton manager John Still always had faith in him and said: “Although Mark has hit the headlines with his goals in October, his overall perfor-mances so far this season have been terrific. A lot was made of Andre Gray’s departure in the summer. “ He added “I knew that in Mark we had a natural goal scorer. He is capable of scoring any kind of goal, and obviously his hat-trick against Dagenham saw him highlight that,

with goals with both feet and his head.” Paul Carr a season ticket holder for two years said “Mark Cullen has been superb this season and his goals have come at crucial points in games giving us vital points, al-though our form has dropped slight-ly in November Cullen has been the stand out player. He fully deserve his Sky Bet player of the month award in October, he was outstanding.”

He added “if we manage to stay near the top of the table and with the help of a few new signings we could gain back to back promotion. This would be great for the club financially and going forward into next year. Playing in League one is where a club like Luton Town should be. Beating Bury one nil in the FA cup was brilliant and let’s hope our league form helps us with a decent cup run”

“The final against Scunthorpe was like a fairytale”

Players lifting the Jhonstone’s Paint TrophyImage Courtesy off en.wikipedia.org

The stage was set at for the 2,932 in attendance at Kenilworth Road for the second round replay between Luton Town and Bury. The first tie away at bury resulted in a 1-1 draw and both teams had opportunities to progress into the third round of the FA Cup, neither failing to take their chances.

Luton went into the game off the back of a three nil loss in the league to Morecambe. They had a brilliant opportunity to get back into form and carry on their FA Cup run.

Bury started of the brighter in the opening minutes of the first half and Keil O’Brien smashed into Luton’s Shaun Walley straight away conceding a foul and showing that Bury wont just going to sit back and wait for an opportunity.

Andrew Tutte of Bury has the first shot on goal in the 8th minute and tests the keeper. Against the run of play Luton counter forward and

Fraser Franks is denied by the post. A brilliant move going forward by the home side and they have showed Bury their attacking threat.

Luton win a free kick and the ball was whipped in by Shaun Walley but the attempt was missed by Luke Williamson and headed over the bar. Williamson should have done better with the free header and put the home side in front.

Nicky Adams gets two chances to put Bury ahead but squanders both opportunities failing to put the away side into the lead and didn’t even test the keeper. Moments later Luton get a chance once again to take the lead but Luke Cullen shoots wide when he was one on one with the keeper.

Both sides’ getting numerous chanc-es in the first half and they were coming thick and fast. The sides go in all square as the first half draws to a close.

Luton take the lead in the 47th minute as they return through Luke Rooney, a brilliant shot to the bottom left corner from a difficult angle, finally a keeper is beaten and a lapse of concentration could be costly here for the away side.

Bury had a number of chance to get an equaliser but cant seem to find the back of the net. The best oppor-tunity coming in the 90th minute through Nathan Cameron but his header was saved by the Luton keep-er. Luton also failed to find the net again and had many chances also.

The final whistle is blown and Luton are through to the third round of the FA Cup were they meet Cam-bridge United. Luton defended well as a side and they were really im-pressive going forward. Hopefully this win encourages them when they meet Newport County in the League on Saturday.

Luke Rooney Sends Luton Through

Image Courtesy off www.thesecretfootballer.comLuke Rooney Celebrates his match winning goal against Bury