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Hatters v Rovers

Boz

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A difficult trip to Luton, who, after a nervous start on their return to the league, have settled down and are in a good run of form at present. It will be interesting to see if any of the players getting a chance in the decent JPT win at Bury can force their way into the starting line-up; my guess would be not. Also whether we will stick to 3-5-2. Assuming we do, I reckon on a starting line up as follows, assuming Donacien fit and Richards isn't.

Brezovan
Ihiekwe Thompson Holness
Donacien Power Jennings Laird Ridehalgh
Gnanduillet Johnson

My first visit to Kenilworth Road and dragging a couple of Herts-based friends to the game with me. They've never seen Rovers win, while my last away victory watching us was Stockport around 5 years ago. I don't expect that to change and despite our improved form, anything from this game will be a bonus.
 
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Yes, Boz, it will be difficult. Luton is my nearest team so I've missed them while they were having their financial problems. They have good backing at the moment and even if we were on top form it would be tough. I'm hoping to keep my 100% record this season (I was at Wycombe), but my head says we'll lose, probably about 2-1. I'm taking three mates including two home fans. The four of us will be in the away end, so you can knock two off the official figure for the SWA!

I agree with your team by the way.
 

Ian

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Their doing well this season and this will be a real tough one, but it might give us an indication of where we are now that we have a new regime in place and are proving more resilient.
 

Boz

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BBTC, we're both doing our best to swell the numbers in the away end, the all ticket arrangements make it more difficult for visiting fans. I gather home and away fans sit in different sections of the same stand, so at least your Luton supporting mates won't feel too out of place.
 
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Tomorrow will be my first visit to Kenilworth Road for twenty years, with the last one in my student days in Johnny King's final year in charge. I am expecting an intense atmosphere as Luton are packing them in this season, but Tuesday night's performance against equally strong opposition suggests we will at the very least be competitive.

I agree with Boz's team, save perhaps for Danny Holmes featuring.
 

Brightonian

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Yes as tough an an away game as they come and I agree with Ian that we will have a much better idea of the competitiveness of the revised team after this one. However I am looking forward to the game with some optimism and feel we have a decent chance of getting something out of the game.

For me Danny Holmes would always be one of the first names on the team sheet as every time I see him play he is excellent at this level and has the sort of determination we will need. I would have Danny at right wing back and move Donacien to central defence in place of Thompson.

I haven't been to Kenilworth Rd for years: it was always a very heavy pitch so we could be in for quite a battle which may suit us. Hopefully big Nando will be raring to go after not having played in the cup games and will want to prove the Wimbledon performance was not just a 'flash in the pan'
 

Ian

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Well we lost, but it sounds like they gave it a good go. A lot more competitive.
 
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A very good performance from Rovers and we were unlucky not to get a point: but for a brilliant save from their keeper from Odejayi in stoppage time, we would have got what we deserved.

The match never remotely looked like second v second bottom, more like a contest between two promotion hopefuls. We played good football and caused them problems throughout, and also defended well when we came under concerted pressure, which we inevitably did in periods of the game. The front two looked a real handful once again and linked up very well on occasions; I have not seen the match stats, but it certainly seemed that we had more efforts on goal than Luton, certainly in the first half. I would say we were the better side in the first period, Luton marginally in the second, but I thought we generally played the better football through midfield, whereas Luton were pretty direct, relying on balls whipped into the box from wide areas.

Individually, Power and Jennings were superb in midfield; Laird worked hard, but his limitations are really shown up now that he is playing alongside an in-form Max and Jenno. Power, in particular, looks a completely different player under Adams to the one that started the season in poor form. Holness had an excellent game at centre back and the back five kept their shape well throughout; Brezovan's distribution and command of his box was very good, and he deserves to keep his place ahead of Fonners in my view. The one criticism of the performance would be that we did not work their keeper enough, and there were several occasions when we got in behind in great areas and either did not pick someone out or failed to anticipate the pass.

It was pleasing to hear the local radio commentator and their coach describe us as a very good team that won't be near the bottom of the table for long; with the sterling work Adams is doing, I am inclined to agree.
 

Brightonian

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Yes we did give it a good go and I can't believe that we did not get anything from the game, with a draw probably being fair if impartial but we did have a lot of the play. Not the greatest vantage point for the away supporters end but great to be amongst a large crowd with lots of atmosphere in that old rickety old ground with the terraced houses almost on the terraces.

I have seen us play all top three sides and we have not been outplayed by any and I thought we more than matched Luton in every area. Although we looked dangerous we just did not keep the composure and create the clear cut opening and do lack a wide player who can get behind the defence. On the plus side Steve Jennings did show class and composure throughout and would be my MOM by a distance. Max had some good moments but was not helped to build up play by Marc Laird who could not seem to get into the game and lost the ball a lot.

Thought Thompson looked very solid and composed until he had to go off and Holness was an effective stopper again but his distribution is poor. Donacien had a sound game and was one of the better players. Luton did not create much but did get in a couple of times towards the end of the first half on our left in between our back three and their goal from what I could see was played into space on the left behind Liam which is perhaps one minus to the formation. They seemed to be well aware of the threat of Nado running at them and generally they coped with him well.

Generally a reasonable spirited display lacking a bit of quality. One disappointent for was the waste of the dead ball situations which is something we have had all season. Time and again the pressure was allowed to disapate with free kicks hitting the wall with no variation worked up on the training ground and corners not clearing the first defender, or on the isolated occasion the ball went to the back post nobody in place to attack the ball.
 
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I agree 100% with the above reports. I still can't believe we lost. The difference was a bit of individual brilliance for their goal. Our defence was sound and well organised. Brezovan was particularly assured and did everything right, being a bit unlucky to stop their goal. The three centre backs held firm. Thompson is quality, Ihiekwe played well and Holness did not let us down, despite his poor distribution. Young Evan Gumbs looked assured and was comfortable coming forward, although he overhit a couple of crosses when he came forward. Our wing backs put in a good shift. Power again looked a class above, Jennings worked hard and Laird was unlucky that his mistake led to their goal. Gnanduillet looked dangerous but too often made the wrong choice either where he ran or where he passed. Johnson did not have enough of the ball to make an impression. Sadly, our inability the score due to our predictability and indecision in the final third cost us the game. Having said that, the save their keeper made from Odejayi was worthy of Gordon Banks. But we will play worse and win (I hope!) We did not look like relegation candidates and certainly not 21 places below Luton. The home fans I talked to said they thought we were unlucky, but the reason Luton are where they are is their ability to scrap to a win. I said before the match that our revival will depend not on how long we remain undefeated but how the team reacts to its first defeat under Micky. Let's hope we take the positives and work on the negatives.

As a footnote, I thought the game was played in a very good spirit and was an excellent advert for League Two. Both sets of fans were well behaved. I have a lot of sympathy for Luton fans after what they have been through, but their club will not go very far playing at Kenilworth Road. It really is an awful ground, quite depressing. One side has just a few executive boxes. The away end has been badly converted from terracing to seats so that legroom is inadequate. I am quite short and still felt uncomfortable. This meant most of the SWA stood for almost all the match and it made for a great atmosphere.
 

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Sounds like our overall play is really coming together under Micky but we do need to work the keeper more. That's a problem we've had all season.
 
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I agree with BBTC that Kenilworth Road is a weird, Dickensian venue, but I actually quite like it. Sneaking through a row of terraced houses into the away end, with access to one stand down an alleyway about three feet wide, the ground certainly has a lot more character than the breezeblock stadia built by Walsall, Colchester and the rest.

I actually thought we showed plenty of quality and invention in the final third yesterday and all that was lacking was a finish.
 
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I agree with BBTC that Kenilworth Road is a weird, Dickensian venue, but I actually quite like it. Sneaking through a row of terraced houses into the away end, with access to one stand down an alleyway about three feet wide, the ground certainly has a lot more character than the breezeblock stadia built by Walsall, Colchester and the rest.

I actually thought we showed plenty of quality and invention in the final third yesterday and all that was lacking was a finish.
OK, RLC, I take your point about Kenilworth Road. I'll also add that it's a friendly ground. There was no aggro (verbal or otherwise) between the sets of supporters (who were sharing the same stand). This made the police presence outside the ground at the end excessive and counter-productive. As we left the ground, we were prevented walking down an empty sidestreet to the main road and the station. The alternative was to turn the other way towards the home fans. When we asked an officer why we couldn't go through the barrier, he said "Oh, you look OK, so you can go." Eventually, I think most of us got through. Not a very good exercise in crowd policing or PR.

However, I still take issue about the final third. Leaving aside our poor free-kicks, whenever we got within 30 yards of goal there would be either a hopeful shot or a pass out to the right wing. We never created any real pressure on a well-organised defence. I am looking forward to the return of Koumas (for Laird) and Stockton (for Gnanduillet), which could make quite a difference. But as I think I said earlier, we would have won playing like that against many of the other teams in League Two.
 

Boz

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Just back from a long weekend dahn saarf. There's not much that I would take issue with in the comments above. Thought we edged the first half and Luton were more dominant after the break, but not much in it. They were certainly one of the better sides I've seen this season and put together some good football. If you were to be critical of Rovers, Gnanduillet didn't have his shooting radar set and there were a couple of times that the forwards didn't anticipate through balls from midfield. Perhaps we could have done better with their goal in both closing down the player earlier and Brezovan, who had a good game getting his body fully behind the ball? Also wondered when Thompson came off injured at a time we were losing, whether going to 4 at the back and putting a more attacking player further forward was worth considering. Evan Gumbs looked comfortable on debut though.

BBTC mentions the policing at the game. I agree the roadblock at full-time seemed daft, although I heard that a few things did kick-off pre and post match. There was also a smoke bomb let off in the away end and one bloke in our end chanting racial abuse, seemingly unchallenged by stewards or police.
 
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