[Lord Snooty]

Luton Town v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Tuesday October 4th - 19:45 ko
at Kenilworth Road

Huddersfield Town travel to Luton to the dump known as Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night for the second match under the new leadership of the jovial Scotsman, Mark Fotheringham.

His first game was a total disaster, from the minute he chose the starting line up, deciding to change a winning team and bringing back the shockingly out of form players, Jon Russell and Sorba Thomas. Nowt against the two lads, but they're out of form and should be playing B team football to get some of that form back. We all know they have it in them. Last season, Russell was a world beater and people were asking things like; how on earth is he not in Chelsea's first team? Well now you know why.

As for Sorba? Five minutes of brilliance for Wales the other night shows us that the problem is not him, but actually it's everybody else. Especially toss pot fans goading him. Stop it!

As for Luton.......Well they've just carried on from where they left off last season. Now up to sixth in the table but with the added goal scoring of Barnsley's Carlton Morris up front.

As it stands at this moment in time, I would say we have absolutely no chance of winning this match. And you all know I'm a glass half full sort of person. We're staring at the dregs in the bottom of this glass now. Time to get it topped up.

He could start by bringing young Etienne Camara back in.


Tickets: We have been given an initial allocation of 1,032 for the match.

Luton Town have confirmed that the fixture will be all ticket, and NO pay on the day will be available at the turnstile in somebody's back garden.

PRICES

Adults - £24
Over-75s - £17
Over-65s - £20
Under-22s - £20
Under-19s - £17
Under-17s - £9
Under-10s - £5

A brief history of Luton Town: formed in 1885, they turned professional in 1890 and entered the Football League in 1897. However, as they were based in the south and most of their opponents were based in the north, they decided to leave the FL and went back to the Southern League in 1900. They played at Dunstable Road then, but in 1905 they moved to Kenilworth Road. They returned to the Football League in 1920 when the new Division Three (South) was formed and finished that first season in mid table.

They won Div 3(S) in 1936/37 and so were promoted to the 2nd Division. They scored 103 goals in the league but one match against Bristol Rovers in the previous season produced a league record that still stands today and is very unlikely to ever be beaten. They beat Bristol Rovers 12-0, but that wasn't the record. The remarkable thing was Joe Payne, who started the season at half back, was brought in to play centre forward because of injuries to Jack Ball and Bill Boyd. He only went and scored ten goals in the match! So they kept him in that position and the next season, when they won the title, he banged home 55 goals, a club record. He scored 83 goals in his 72 matches for Luton.
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Joe Payne

They stayed in the 2nd division up to and after the war and in 52/53 they almost got promoted, finishing 3rd behind Sheffield Utd and Huddersfield Town, when only the top two went up. They did manage it though in 54/55 when they finished second as Birmingham City won the title and Rotherham just failed as the three teams all ended up on 54 points and Luton were promoted with a better Goal Average. This was the era when Gordon Turner played for them, who went on to be their all time record goalscorer with 276 in a 15 year career. He scored 32 in the promotion season.

A creditable finish of tenth in their first season in the top flight was followed by 16th, 8th and 17th. But then in 1959 they reached the FA Cup Final for their one and only time. They met Nottingham Forest, but got beaten 1-2. Goals from Roy Dwight (cousin of Elton John) and Tommy Wilson gave Forest an early lead, but then Dwight broke his leg after 33 minutes and had to go off. There were no subs in those days, so Forest had to battle on with ten men. In the second half Dave Pacey scored for his home town club, but Forest held on for the win.

Did the Wembley appearance lead to further success? No. They were relegated in the next season along with Leeds Utd. They finished 13th in the 2nd division, but then in the next season, they were relegated again and were back in the 3rd division for the first time in 26 years. It got worse. They had a mid table finish but then in 64/65 they were relegated to the 4th division for the first time, just six years after being runners up in the FA Cup.

Better days were just around the corner though. They won the 4th division title in 67/68 and almost made it back to back promotions, but finished 3rd when it was still just the top two promoted. But then in 69/70 they did go up and it was the goals of future Town manager Malcolm Macdonald that fired them to a second placed position. Supermac was sold to Newcastle and the team did fairly well in the league, but then in 73/74, just 9 years after being relegated to the 4th division, they won promotion back to the First Division, finishing as runners up to Middlesbrough, with Carlisle United taking advantage of the new three promoted clubs rule behind them.

It was just a one year stay. They were relegated alongside Chelsea and Carlisle. Better times weren't far away again though and in 1977 they appointed David Pleat as manager, who had played for them in those 4th division days. He got them promoted in 81/82 as Champions of Division Two, eight points ahead of runners up Watford. Pleat's most famous day was on the last day of 82/83 when Luton had to win at Maine Road to stay up. Their win, thanks to a Raddy Antić goal, had Pleat dancing for joy on the pitch on hearing the final whistle, which not only became an iconic image, but also saw Man City relegated.

They stayed up for a few years and achieved their highest ever league finish in 86/87 when they ended the season in 7th place. Pleat had been poached by Tottenham Hotspur by then, so it was John Moore, a former 4th division team mate of Pleat's and his assistant manager, who managed the club to this position. He only stayed in the job for one season though. He didn't like being the boss and so went back to being just a coach and Ray Harford took over. Harford had immediate success by winning the League Cup in 1988.

It wasn't their first visit to Wembley that season though, as they had been to the final of the Full Members Cup a month earlier when they lost 1-4 to Reading. This time they were up against Arsenal, the cup holders and strong favourites. Luton took an early lead though through Brian Stein when the famous Arsenal defence failed to clear a set piece. So one nil to Luton at half time, it wasn't until the 71st minute when the next goal arrived. It was an equaliser for the Gunners from substitute Martin Hayes. And just three minutes later, they were ahead through dreary voiced Sky pundit Alan Smith. Arsenal could have scored again and again, but for great saves from Andy Dibble, who had been on loan at Town earlier in the season and was only playing because of an injury to first choice keeper Les Sealey. Arsenal then got a penalty. Nigel Winterburn took it and Dibble saved it. There's your turning point. Not long after, Luton equalised through Danny Wilson and with the game heading to extra time, Tony Adams fouled Stein on the edge of the area. He scored from the resulting free kick, in the last minute of the game and Luton Town had it's one and only major trophy.

They did reach the final again in the next season, but in a repeat of the 1959 FA Cup Final, they lost to Nottingham Forest. Mick Harford scored the opening goal in this one, but two goals from Nigel Clough and one from Neil Webb gave Brian Clough the third of his four League Cup triumphs as Forest manager.

Luton flirted with relegation in the next couple of seasons until 91/92 when they went down alongside Notts County and West Ham, thus missing out on the first season of the Premier League. And then in 95/96, they got relegated again to the 3rd division.

They made it to the Play Offs for the first time in that first season in what was now called League One, but failed at the semi final stage, being beaten on aggregate by Crewe Alexandra. Another couple of mid table finishes, then the slump continued and they were back down in the basement league following relegation in 2000/01.

It was just a one year stay there though as they bounced back by finishing as runners up to Plymouth Argyle. That was under the management of Joe Kinnear, but he was sacked and replaced by Mike Newell. It took him a couple of years but he got them up to the Championship by winning League One in 04/05. They won it in style as well, finishing twelve points ahead of runners up Hull City.

Newell led them to 10th in the Championship, but disagreements with the board caused him to leave and he was replaced by Kevin Blackwell, which sparked off a disastrous chain of events that saw them go into administration, get points deducted and get relegated from the Championship, League One and League Two, ending up in the Conference for the start of the 2009/10 season.

Before that relegation to non league though, they went and won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, beating Scunthorpe Utd 3-2 at Wembley with goals from Chris Martin (on loan from Norwich), Tom Craddock and in extra time, Claude Gnakpa came up with the winner.

They were a force in the Conference, but just couldn't get out of it. Their first three seasons saw them reach the Play offs. The first one they lost on aggregate to York City. The second one, they reached the Final at the Etihad Stadium but lost on penalties to AFC Wimbledon. They reached the Final again in 2012, this time at Wembley, but despite a goal in the 2nd minute from Andre Gray, they were beaten 1-2 by York City, again.

They missed out in the following season, but then in 13/14, they were back. They won the Conference at a canter, clocking up 101 points, that was 19 above runners up Cambridge Utd. They then reached the League Two Play Offs in 16/17 but lost on aggregate to Blackpool. But that didn't deter them as they then won back to back promotions, finishing as runners up to Accrington Stanley and then winning the League One title in 2018/19.

Last season they made it to the Play Offs, but failed......miserably!

Head to Head



Luton lead the head to head with 12 wins to Town's 11, with 7 draws.

We have recent history with Luton Town, which five years ago seemed quite impossible as we were living it up in the Premier League and they had only just got back into the FL after some years in the Conference.

Who'd a thunk back then that we would be playing little Luton in the Championship Play Offs in 2022? Certainly not anybody in Huddersfield. We were either going to be Prima Donna League champions or back down in League Two, depending on your glass half full or empty ideal.

The first meeting last season was a drab goal less draw, but the one back at ours was an absolute belter. Both teams were fancying a crack at the Play Offs but nothing was definite yet. Our victory was a statement of intent. After a goal less first half, Jon Russell scored a beautiful opener for the Terriers. From a throw in taken by Pipa, who found Russell as his marker, Robert Snodgrass, fell asleep. The lanky Jamaican from Accrington chipped the ball superbly, high over the keeper's head to nestle in the net. Inch perfect it was.

But ten minutes later, the ref tried to square the match up again by awarding a penalty for a nothing challenge from Danel Sinani. Elijah Adebayo stepped up to take it, but dragged it wide of the post. Lewis O'Brien looking directly at the Cowshed Loyal behind the goal celebrated with the fans. Luton's Kal Naismith though, thought he was taken the piss and laughing in Adebayo's face and so ran and pushed him over, causing a melee in the area. Straight red? Yes, but the ref bottled it and pulled out a yellow.

Sorba Thomas was also booked, but he had the last laugh, in the last minute of normal time sending in a perfectly weighted corner kick for Naby Sarr to nod in at the far post. Whoo-hoo!

Luton's manager, Nathan Jones was very gracious in defeat.

And so with Town finishing 3rd in the table and the Hatters finishing sixth, we met again at Kenilworth Road in May and Town should've been ahead inside the first minute. An early cross from Sinani was just about to be headed home by Harry Toffolo when a defender pushed him in the back. Penalty. No doubt. Everybody agreed. Even the Sky punters. Penalty!

No chance. The ref bottled it again. Not to worry, Twelve minutes on the clock, O'Brien plays a superb ball for Sinani, who outsmarts Sonny Bradley and shoots in past Matt Ingram, the Luton keeper, on loan from Hull.

The ref gave everything in Luton's favour from then in, in order to level things up and after half an hour gave a nothing free kick to them and Bradley equalised from an offside position.
 
That was the final score and numpty Jones again was very gracious in his post match interview.

And so to the John Smith's, five weeks after we beat them in the league, for the second leg. A very tense match that could've gone either way. Toffolo again almost scored after dancing his way through the defence, but the keeper saved it. Danny Ward stretched for the rebound, but stretched too far, injuring himself. He had to go off, to be replaced by Jordan Rhodes.

Into the second half and Toffs had another stonewall penalty when the keeper brought him down. It was even more stonewall than the stonewaller we had in the first leg. The ref bottled it......again!

The game's heading towards extra time, but then in the 82nd minute, super Sorba whips in another fantastic free kick and Jordan sticks out a big toe to squeeze the ball in.

Absolute scenes!

Mr Jones of Luton, once again was very gracious in defeat and wishing our boys all the best for the Final.

In the Final, we had our third and fourth stonewallers in the Play Offs turned down, even with the advantage of VAR to spot refereeing mistakes. But we won't dwell on that.







So what's going on down Hatters Way? Still managed by that prick Nathan Jones, a former midfielder for Merthyr Tydfil.

The bloke's such a berk, I can't be arsed writing about him or puitting a picture of his stupid face on here, so here's a picture of Bananarama instead.

Last week's line up away at Hulll:

34 Ethan Horvath - Goalie on loan from the Florist.
16 Reece Burke - ex Bradford defender.
4 Tom Lockyer - Welsh international centre back.
3 Dan Potts - Known by all as Potty Poos.
2 James Bree - Known by all as Cheezy Feet.
22 Allan Campbell - midfielder from Motherwell.
12 Henri Lansbury - ex Scunny midfielder.
29 Amari'i Bell - Known by all as Ding Dong.
18 Jordan Clark - Barnsley lad.
11 Elijah Adebayo - Missed a pen at the JSS last season.
9 Carlton Morris - Signed from Barnsley in the summer.

Subs:
7 Harry Cornick Jr - American lounge singer.
17 Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu - ex Boreham Wood.
21 Harry Isted - Reserve keeper.
23 Fred Onyedinma - ex Wycombe.
32 Gabriel Osho - Defensive midfielder from Reading.
35 Cameron Jerome - One of our own. 
45 Alfie Doughty - ex Charlton and Stoke midfielder.



Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town are 23rd in the Championship table with 7 points. Luton are 9th with 16.

Reading 3-1 Town
Town 1-0 Cardiff
Town 1-2 Wigan
Town 0-1 Blackpool
Bristol C 2-0 Town
Town 2-2 WBA

Hull 0-2 Luton
Luton 2-0 Blackburn
Luton 2-2 Coventry
Luton 1-2 Wigan
Cardiff 1-2 Luton
Luton 1-1 Sheff Utd




Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Jordan Rhodes (3)
Tino Anjorin (2)
Danny Ward (2)

Hatters:
Carlton Morris (6)
Then 7 players on 1

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[theo_luddite]

Morning Snoots, another sterling effort there.

The Sack Race is on full bore today, not only did Lage get the push from the West Midlands Dingles, Chris Wilder has gone from Boro and Matt Taylor has quit at Exeter. He's expected to rock up in Rotherham anytime soon. First stop, to go and buy some new thermals in Meadowhell shopping centre.

[jjamez]

Ding dong! Love it

[theo_luddite]

... and even though there's now only the original 2 of them, and gravity might be having some of its usual effect, still more photogenic than Nathan Jones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananarama...a_crop.jpg

[WakeyTerrier]

I fear this will be another battering

[theo_luddite]

Do they do properly battered and fried fish cooked in the good stuff in Luton?

[Lord Snooty]

[Lord Snooty]

Well I take back everything I've said about Luton Town. What a lovely gesture this is, given to the Town press team tonight.

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[jjamez]

Team isn't far off in a 3-5-2 but that bench is scary, I'd arguably like one more attacking player on there, even if it's diarra or one of the other kids, reward who's been training or playing well

I know that the b team played today which doesn't help

[theo_luddite]

Starting with Rhodes and Ward kind of limits the options a bit.