Luton Town v Charlton Athletic

[Maple Hatter]

Been a long time since this was a regular fixture. Lots of memories from this game and most around the time I first started going when we were locking horns in the old division two. A sell out crowd and no doubt a terrific atmosphere awaits in what should be a very tight game. Charlton it seems, despite their off the field troubles, are still in the play off spots and are one of teams expected to be in the hunt for promotion. Will certainly be a good test for whatever team NJ puts out. Our new signing Lua Lua will no doubt be on the bench. Collins and Lee up front again as it seems Danny Hylton injury continues to heal. Frustrating for everyone concernced. Our home form is decent this season with some fine performances . We know what we are capable of especially in big games with the crowd behind us. Will be good to see a full away end, only Sunderland have managed it so far.
Difficult to predict a result but I'm going for a 1-1 draw mainly due to the fact we haven't found our scoring boots. Vital for us to get that first goal.
Shame to see Charltons off the field problems, especially when it looked like everything was rosy after getting back their stadium and making it to the PL. Shows how quickly things can change in football.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Looking forward to this one - looks like it is another 10,000+ capacity crowd.

Apparently we’re going to be a bit stronger numbers wise; I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr Hylton does put in an appearance, but I can’t see him being anywhere near full fitness.

Expecting Kazenga LuaLua to be in the 18, although how we’re going to shoehorn him in is anyone’s guess!

I’d go with this line up...
Shea, Stacey, Potts, Bradley, Pearson, Rea, Grant, Ruddock, Shinnie, Collins, Lee
Subs: Isted, Justin, Sheehan, LuaLua, Cornick Hylton, Jarvis

 

[BelizeHatter]

Paul Walsh.........now those were the days. Him and Stein terrorised for a couple of seasons. We paid $400k for him back when dinosaurs roamed. Sold him for a pretty penny too...... Jack who ;-)

 

[Bosox]

So far Luton have played 5 of the top 8 and taken 2 points from a possible 15, while playing 4 of the bottom 9 taking 10 points from a possible 12.

Charlton are sixth going into tomorrow's game so I'm not exactly confident.

 

[BelizeHatter]

That's a grim stat I hadn't realised. Results are what matter but we totally outplayed two or three. Sunderland deserved their point and we only got smashed by Perterboro. We still adjusting. Not too worried

 

[Maple Hatter]

Paul Walsh.........now those were the days. Him and Stein terrorised for a couple of seasons. We paid $400k for him back when dinosaurs roamed. Sold him for a pretty penny too...... Jack who ;-)

Bought a certain Paul Elliott from Charlton at the same time. Fantastic athlete but unfortunately broke his leg just when he was looking to cement his place. We also had Steve Foster and Mal Donaghy at the back so competition was tough. Walsh and Stein were some partnership. That couple of seasons was probably my favourite ever Luton team. An attacking style of play where we just tried to outscore the other team. Great to watch. 3-3 at Anfield and 4-4 at Stoke stand out.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Yeah. Lucky to have those days and memories. I was addicted. Home and most away.

 

[BelizeHatter]

"One Shaking Stephens. Only one Shaking Stephens.”........ Anfield Kop to our right back in goal facing a pen. for those youner than Maple and I

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Expecting a tough game today, despite turmoil off the pitch they still look a strong side. Home form is I think going to be particularly important so need to make sure we get something I think.

The stuff with Hylton does not sound at all positive to me, it sounds like a chronic problem that may never be 100% right and is difficult to manage for both medical team and player. Beginning to wonder whether he will ever be the player he was to be honest. Makes it very odd why we didn’t bring in another forward over the summer, we must have known about it, he hasn’t been right since about February.

The centre halves seem to be bedding in a bit better but this will be a new test for them against better calibre of striker.

 

[Bosox]

Is there anything more frustrating in football than a team scoring a last second goal against you in time that was only added on because they were timewasting so much earlier?

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

At half time I’d have absolutely taken a point if offered as I thought Charlton were the significantly better team to be honest. No complaints on the penalty, was a clumsy challenge. From my angle it looked like it might have been outside the box but couldn’t tell for certain as I’m quite low down. However having pulled it back to 2-1 it’s always disappointing to concede a 90th minute goal.

What a frustrating player Cornick is as well. Changes the game really with his energy and has got himself on the scoresheet but dear oh dear that miss at 2-1 was so costly. You simply cannot miss chances like that, and to not get it on target too. When he missed that I knew we would concede.

Overall and taking the emotion of the last minute goal out of the equation I think that’s a decent result, as I thought Charlton were a very good side and we weren’t really on our game today. Fosu was the best player on the pitch by a mile really, surprised he went off.

If I were Charlton I’d be disappointed to have not got 3 points really regardless of 90th minute equaliser. Thought they were the better team and had the better players but didn’t make it count to its fullest effect.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Yeah. Charlton we're great. Hustled, let us have the ball and stopped us creating much until they had to chase. We should have seen it out and scored again and the defence was excellent up until injury time. Can't complain.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Lee Bowyer must run Steve Evans close with the amount of moaning at the 4th official he does. Even when he’s won free kicks.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Couple of other things struck me today:

-Hate when the crowd don’t give the ball back. Just stupid thing to do and asking for trouble really. Doesn’t actually waste any time as the refs always going to stop his watch for it, whereas some of the other time wasting tactics that go on the pitch I doubt they do. Very unnecessary and a bit rich of us to complain of time wasting when we’ve done that IMO.

-Collins did bloody well today, worked his arse off won headers against that massive centre half and set up Cornick with a well won flick. Really pleased he got his goal. Still not sure he is up to the level but can’t argue with the effort he puts in and that goes a long way.

-Was kind of surprised Jones took Grant off over Shinnie. Didn’t think Shinnie had a very good game and he’s clearly uncomfortable playing on the left hand side. Wouldn’t say Grant was great today or anything but think he’s a little more capable of creating something of nothing than Shinnie. Perhaps that just me though.

-From what I’ve seen so far there is a pretty noticeable gap between play off sides and the rest. We have been solid so far and there are signs of promise in terms of our overall play but we just aren’t ruthless enough in that final part of the pitch at the moment.

 

[Maple Hatter]

Another game against one of the teams tipped to challenge for promotion and again we've held our own. Charlton summed up the difference between league one and two. Comfortable on the ball, skillful and fast on the break and didn't give us a moment on the ball. At times we struggled against them but we also showed that we can worry any team when our attacking play comes together. Shinnie should have taken more time with the chance he had first half and perhaps if he looked up he would have saw Pelly standing unmarked with a gaping goal in front of him. A minute later and Charlton got the lead with a soft penalty. I push from behind from Collins when he didn't need to touch the man gave the Charlton forward a chance to fall in front of the refs nose.
A poor start to the second half and Charlton looked like they were going to increase their lead. NJ then made a smart subsitution which had an immediate affect. Cornick should really have won the game for us and if I was NJ I'd practice those postions he gets into in training so that he learns to keep the ball down and on target. The missing peice in the puzzle as far as he's concerned.
At 2-1 I really thought we'd go on to win the game but injury time nerves got the better of us, not for the first time! On reflection a fair result but any team which concedes with practically the last kick must going into the dressing room feeling its points dropped.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Id bet my house that Cornick gets a shit load of training, coaching and practice at one on one's. In the heat of the moment it's the same every single time. Loses his head snatches and smacks it over the bar. Can't coach coolness. You got it or or you dont. Maybe he can gain it with experience but he's in borrowed time.

Pellys shot was magestic. Deserved to go in. Collins did well and didn't snatch at the rebound.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Jones mentioned it last season about how much they focus on it with Cornick. Thought it was noticeable the one he scored he had no time to think really but the misses were both ones where he had plenty of time over it.

The second is a simply egregious miss and how he skewed it that badly as well.... In hindsight he could have gone down and won the free kick, the number 3 would have been off as well as he was on a yellow.

 

[Hatter86]

Entertaining game. One of those where I would have definitely taken a point before the game but am disappointed to only come away with a point after due to the manner in which we conceded. Despite that, our play deserved nothing more than a draw, so fair result.

Charlton a good side, best I've seen this year. Thought their front two might cause us problems with their pace, given the lack of it our centre halves have.

Didn't see the pen, wrong end. Looked incredibly soft but I'd have to see it again.

Equaliser out of nowhere, not sure how it came about. Again, wrong end.

Well on top after we equalised, second goal well deserved. Pleased for Collo to get it. Has taken some undue (In my
opinion) cop so far this season.

Cornick will never be a striker. Love his energy and pace however he should have made it 3-1, no question.

Saw the equaliser coming a mile off. Hit the bar twice in extra time, was only a matter of time before they scored. Gutting that apparently it was the lads first goal in 6 years (So Twitter tells me). Hope the number 17 is ok, the amount of times he went down under no contact makes me fear for his health.

Top stuff from those in the Oak Road and Main Stand clapping in the 28th minute, good acknowledgement. RIP.

Fair result at the end of the day, Charlton could be rightly aggrieved if they'd lost, although we should have won a few of our away draws so maybe luck isn't with us at the moment.

Few comments about the Charlton fans. Lots of pissed up little boys 'giving it large' on the way back from the ground. Lots of chanting and "CAAAAM 'ORN DEN!!!" at scarfers from behind police cordens, all very pathetic. Must try harder.

Still unbeaten at home which is great, however need to start picking up away points if we are looking to he better than mid table.

 

[djs]

Listened to Jones' comments on the way home re Cornick and how much time they spend working on his finishing.
Well, can I suggest that the coaching team go out and watch the pre match shooting session. Most players were trying to place their shots, Collins being especially impressive with both feet, as was Grant and others. But Cornick, plus Rea and Pelly were just blasting them either straight at Isted, or over the bar. If that's what they do when practising, no wonder that Cornick can't finish. and Pelly is still in single figures after 5/6 seasons.


I was also going to comment on the time-wasting idiots in the Oak Road, also one idiot in the Kenny did similar just before half time, and the nonsense of a team being allowed to benefit by scoring in the time added on for their own timewasting, but that's already been done above.

Cracking game though. Cornick's introduction did at least emphasise the lack of genuine pace in our starting eleven, the difference it made to our game was ridiculous.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Let's not forget we lose if its not for Cornick. None of our other players get on the end of that flick on and we were toothless up to then. I think he is very dangerous and if he does learn to keep his cool and adds a killer unstinct he's way above us and L1

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Yep he changed the game for us today no question and is consistently an excellent option off the bench to give us something extra, whether that be to pick teams off and close the game out when we are ahead or give us something different when chasing a game. Unfortunately thats all he is going to be unless he can put it together with consistent end product. He is a dangerous player but we've all been saying "if he could finish" for a good while now so im not confident he will add it to his game. As djs points out above, you can tell in the warm ups when they are doing shooting practice, he just doesn't have it.

Its probably becoming a self fulfilling prophecy at this point to an extent. He misses, so when it comes to the next one he over thinks it and misses again to perpetuate it. He looked very upset at the end unfortunately so I think it is getting to him. Lets hope he takes the positive of the goal he scored today to give him some confidence.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Nothing really to add than what has already been said, but looking at the stats, it appears that we were more dominant than what it looked like on the pitch. We had more possession and nearly double the number of shots on goal.

Thought it was a really high quality game and I'm certain Charlton will be top 6 come May. I think everyone would agree that a draw was a good result.

We're bang on mid table, but it's certainly not a boring season so far (apart from last week). Certainly a real step up between the two divisions.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Nothing really to add than what has already been said, but looking at the stats, it appears that we were more dominant than what it looked like on the pitch. We had more possession and nearly double the number of shots on goal.

Thought it was a really high quality game and I'm certain Charlton will be top 6 come May. I think everyone would agree that a draw was a good result.

We're bang on mid table, but it's certainly not a boring season so far (apart from last week). Certainly a real step up between the two divisions.

Upon reflection we probably had the better of the chances, off the top of my head Shinnie, Cornick x2, Lee all had excellent "he should have scored" type chances, but I always felt that Charlton looked the better side...not sure if that makes any sense but thats what it felt like to me. It was a really good quality game in hindsight.

Although there big centre half was probably the worst player on the pitch it felt like they were 2 or 3 players better than us and thats the reason they will be top 6 and we will be mid table.

 

[Bobbin']

Is there anything more frustrating in football than a team scoring a last second goal against you in time that was only added on because they were timewasting so much earlier?

Yes, a team scoring a last second winner against you in time that was only added on because the goal scorer of said winner injured your centre half and should have been sent off for it, as happened to us at Sunderland.

Your fans were being clowns when the ball went into the stands so got what they deserved.

Anyway, really good game between two decent sides on Saturday I thought.

Thought we were the better team for the most part but there was a spell where Luton turned it on and they looked very good.

Looked like a penalty to me and we should have had a definite one in the second half which thankfully didn’t cost us as we scored shortly after.

Difficult place to go so would have taken a point at the start and I would have bitten your hand off for a Chris Solly, last second, volleyed equaliser.

That’s 4 goals we’ve scored after the 88th minute this season, securing as an extra 7 points. Love the never say die attitude of this side, they look as if they would run into a burning building for Lee Bowyer, and so would I!

Luton I think will finish at least top half based on Saturday.