Albion v Luton: Official sticky for pre/during/post match comments

[marvin]

Just seen the goals (and the sending offs) on Sky news.

Quality performance by the Luton GK for the Oatway goal and good tackle from Newall, what was he doing!

 

[fatbadger]

So what you are saying is that Saturday's dreadful 'without Cullip' standard was maintained today.

How was Butters?

 

[fatbadger]

sorry, just seen the player ratings thread - he did well, then.

 

[Turkey]

First half: We were average, they were shocking. Second half: They were average, we were shocking.

First goal was clearly an oggy - going miles wide before the defender sliced it in, so there's no way Henderson can possibly claim it. Main thing is it went in, though.

Carpenter and Oatway went missing for about half an hour in the second half. We didn't get it wide, we kept pumping long balls rather than playing through midfield against their 10 men and Knight/Henderson in particular were offside time and again.

We've beaten 2 teams (Oldham and Luton) who will do well to stay up. At least the points are on the board, but we'll have to improve a lot to have a chance of finishing top 6.

What game were you watching??

 

[Football Genius aka FG]

one funniest moments in the game when their Manager was sent off then tried to hide behind the dug out rather than leave the stadium!

 

[fatbadger]

one funniest moments in the game when their Manager was sent off then tried to hide behind the dug out rather than leave the stadium!

I was following the Luton messageboard as the game was going on, and I can tell you that the Hatters' fans found it far from funny - they're raging.

 

[Turkey]

Which bits don't you agree with? We were pushed back by 10 men for most of the second half, unable to string 2 passes together against a team who had looked like a County League side before that. Poor game, decent result, but should have been 4 up at half-time because they were so bad.

I thought it was a proffesional performance by us. Missing 3 first team players - Cullip and Rodger or two big loses. We never looked like conceeding. We passed the ball at times very very well. We scored two goals.

What we do need to do is learn how to play with the two strikers. You want to give Leon balls to chase. We gave it to his feet and he had no where to go. Henderson had his best game. Made some good tackles and helped the midfield well.

 

[Zeitgeist]

A good result from an average performance agains't a VERY poor side. Considering we were much weakened by injury, a most satisfactory result. I was expecting a much harder game, but on that peformance I can see Luton struggling. Their only half decent looking player was the number 14 whose runs caused our defence a few anxious moments. Butters easily had his best game ever in the stripes, but the Luton attack is hardly a yardstick to judge him by ! I still think henderson will come good, he looks to be the ideal foil for knight. Clearly he wasn't fully fit today. The spark in midfield just wasn't there today though. Natham's nutmeg down the left wing in the second half is destined to become an all time clasic I suspect. Expect to see it on Soccer AM in the very near future.

IMO Newell & Howard should have been joined by Kevin Nichols and the Luton coach (Mick Harford?) Nichols main intent seemed to be maiming Leon Knight while gobing off most of the game. Who else saw Harford doing a one fingered salute to the south stand just after the second goal? If that isn't incitement then what is?

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

I thought Hinshelwood, Mayo, Carpenter, Oatway, Jones and Knight were all outstanding today. And lo and behold, Guy Butters didn't play badly at all.

We looked really stretched for a lot of the second half though, not helped by some appaling refereeing. I really thought we were gonna concede

 

[goldstone]

We did not play very well, particularly after they were down to ten men.

Two lucky goals.

We could have had a penalty given against us in the first five minutes when the ball was struck against Hinshelwood's hand. Eight out of ten refs would have given it.

Charlie (and I'm one of his biggest critics) had his best game for a very long time. Clearly the Div 2 standard is more to his liking.

Hinshelwood played well at right back. Much more accomplished than Watson.

Jones also had his best game for a long time.

Butters did OK.

Henderson had a good game. McPhee was crap when he came on to replace him.

Good to see Piercy given ten minutes at the end.

Best we can say is that it's three points in the bag. We'll play much better and lose. And Luton really weren't very good.

 

[oapdodge]

3 points we did what we had to do.
2-0 against a side who won their first 2.
Good result.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Luton were dreadful. Albion were average, with occasional spells during which we played sloppily and got away with it. I have a feeling that we would have played better against better opposition.

But if this is this year's Second Division, there's not much to worry about.

 

[Beach Hut]

Dreadful is an understatement - one of the poorest teams I have seen for a long while.

Just be glad you don't have to support such a poor team as LTFC, the Samaritans must be very busy in that area if that is their standard.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

The Luton fans are saying they were robbed - http://members2.boardhost.com/www.lutonfc.com/

 

[Raphael Meade]

if we win when we dont play that well, then that is how you get promoted.

i thought henderson looked much better than his other games, and we've now beaten luton and qpr in a week, surely two of the 'better' teams in a poor division.

i think things are looking just rosy

 

[albiongirl]

We can only get better!!!! 9 points on the board is not that bad. Just hope Danny recovers soon!!!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Albion 2 – Kinder Eggs 0 (That Don’t Impress-a Me Much)
Rubbish performance, three points under the belt. Guess you can’t complain. Unless you saw it with your own eyes. Luton deserved total respect for bringing their giant static mural down on the Thameslink for propping up at the away end, tho you can’t help feel that bringing down a couple of dozen fans to get behind their team would have helped them more (biggest noise from the away end was when they trundled off at half-time, for reasons best know to themselves)

And The Albion? Feeble. Really feeble. Tho when you are as pitiful as that and STILL pick up three points, you’re in a division too low. Cheers for that Hinsh mate. Dunno where to start really. With the keeper would seem a good place. Ben Roberts is a SAFE PAIR OF HANDS and for me shades it over FDM now. If for no other reason than his kicks are less, uh, exotic, and he heads the ball clear as he sees fit. No more mazy dribbles, which is good for the collective heart rate of the South Stand.

Butters played today. Actually looked like a football player. Actually looked like a football player called Steve Foster in the twilight of his career when he was reduced to standing on one spot and heading balls away thirty yards forward. Still, nice to see him on the pitch & he didn’t look out of place – respect where it’s due. Not at all happy with the strike force tho OK Leon ‘He Shoots He Scors Hes Only Five Foot Four’ Knight grafts bigtime. He’s got the same limitations as OGH up front tho and was marked out of the game today. Given an unsympathetic referee, he’ll get nothing. Has to be said, not at all impressed by Darius Henderson either. He ain’t half as good as he thinks he is, and looks like Butters after a couple of months on the Atkins Diet. There was some talk that he got the first goal, tho the smarter of us called it correctly as an own goal. Charlie Oatway got the much-needed clincher five minutes from time with a well-struck shot straight thru the keepers hands. Shame, he hadn’t been dodgy up to that point.

Couple of maddish sendings off. Early in the second half, it seemed like they stopped for a cricket style ‘tea’ or something. Water bottles being passed around with gay abandon and, sure, why not? Tho at the end of the unscheduled break, no. 19, one Steve Howard, got his marching orders. Apparently for what he said to linesman Mr. Jarnail Singh. And in a second hit-with-the-stupid-stick incident, the Luton manager, Mike Newell, was escorted off by stewards. Not for the blatantly obvious crime of wearing a Mr.Byrite’s shirt & tie combo in the style capital of Cool Britannia, but for bizarrely trying to intercept Chris McPhee on an uncharacteristic run down the wing.

Ah feckit. Three points in the bag so who cares. We were rubbish but they were rubbisher…

 

[Football Genius aka FG]

Lord Bracknell sums it up very well ....

"Luton were dreadful. Albion were average, with occasional spells during which we played sloppily and got away with it. I have a feeling that we would have played better against better opposition.

But if this is this year's Second Division, there's not much to worry about."

but why is it we can raise our game against the bigger clubs but not ya average clubs? or your trash uselss ones like Luton?

 

[Soton Seagull]

Must admit that Butters was ok, not great but better than expected. Great result with a poor 2nd half performance. One of those ganes that we can hopefully look back on in May as the foundations of our championship season. Not a pretty game though.

Still not convinced by Henderson, almost a carbon copy of Andy Kennedy!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Having a little bloke like Leon up front is going to be of limited effectiveness over the long term. It's like having OGH as your main striker. You're going to hit the point where you need a Rougier-like man-monster to just run thru people. Henderson isn't the answer.