Saturday 29th October 2011FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
at Kenilworth Road
Luton Town (3) 5
Aaron O'Connor 8 pen, 72, James Dance 13,
Tommy Wright 25, Stuart Fleetwood 71
Hendon (1) 1
George McCluskey 5
Admission £12, Programme £2,
Admission £12, Programme £2,
Attendance: 2,329 (193 visiting fans)
Luton Town: K. Pilkington, Osano, Beckwith, Antwi, Howells, Dance, Hand, Kissock, O'Connor, Wright, Fleetwood. Subs: Tyler, Samuel, Carden, Henry, Tavernier, Willmott, Crow.
Hendon: Thomas, Parker, Cousins, Peacock, Wharton, C. MacLaren, Busby, McCluskey, Charles, K. MacLaren, Aite-Ouakrim. Subs: Rankin, Bubb, Fraser, Dyer, Laurencin, Burgess, Lewis.
As I mentioned in a previous blog entry pertaining to my recent visit to Bedford Town, one and a half dozen years ago (approx), in the days before colour photography was invented, this father and son team, set out on life's wondrous journey together. We live 122 miles apart these days... and my granddaughter, AKA his niece, has been missing him like mad since he went away to the University of Bedfordshire a whole month ago, so today we arranged for them to have a day out at the cinema and 'do stuff' together. If anybody had been worried about an earth tremor in East Retford this morning, don't be alarmed, it wasn't an earthquake like the one they had in Market Rasen not so long ago... it was merely our Izzy jumping for joy and bouncing with excitement that she was heading south to join her Uncle Sam for the day.
As I mentioned in a previous blog entry pertaining to my recent visit to Bedford Town, one and a half dozen years ago (approx), in the days before colour photography was invented, this father and son team, set out on life's wondrous journey together. We live 122 miles apart these days... and my granddaughter, AKA his niece, has been missing him like mad since he went away to the University of Bedfordshire a whole month ago, so today we arranged for them to have a day out at the cinema and 'do stuff' together. If anybody had been worried about an earth tremor in East Retford this morning, don't be alarmed, it wasn't an earthquake like the one they had in Market Rasen not so long ago... it was merely our Izzy jumping for joy and bouncing with excitement that she was heading south to join her Uncle Sam for the day.
Being the kind of 'family guy' who believes in letting the younger members of my fold do their own thing and giving them space to develop their own ideas, whilst picking up the pieces when required, offering advice when asked for it and having a far too relaxed policy on giving them financial assistance on a frequent basis, ahem! I decided to afford them some quality time together during the day and then meet up with them for a big slap up feast at teatime.
Tsk, what on earth was I going to kill time during the afternoon?
Oh, I know!
I could have joined the 89 hardy souls who went to see Dunstable Town beat Stotfold 2-1 in the Molten Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division today, because that was only a few miles drive away, but I opted to stay in Luton itself instead, because it gave me more time for shopping.
But there was a\ method in my madness... our Sam had sourced me a music store in town, that had loads of Trojan label (and similar) music for sale at prices that would've tempted even the biggest skinflint to get his hand very deeply into his pocket... and I did!
After all, there is always room for another 30 or so 'essential' purchases in everyone's record collection, isn't there!?
Oh, I know!
But there was a\ method in my madness... our Sam had sourced me a music store in town, that had loads of Trojan label (and similar) music for sale at prices that would've tempted even the biggest skinflint to get his hand very deeply into his pocket... and I did!
After all, there is always room for another 30 or so 'essential' purchases in everyone's record collection, isn't there!?
Being of a 'Gung-Ho!' mentality when it comes to exploring a variety of interesting neighbourhood's on my travels, I decided to ignore all the advice about avoiding the Bury Park estate 'short cut' with all it's (apparently) threatening narrow alleyways and (allegedly) dubious locals... and I got to Kenilworth Road in half the time I would've done if I taken the circuitous route that the Luton Town website recommends.
I've been to the Hatters ground loads of times before and I've never had an ounce of bother in and around these so called 'mean streets'.
The football ground stands in the middle of the part of town that is predominantly, almost to the point of exclusivity, a Muslim community.
Yet the vast majority of people who actually attend matches therein, are white and of English origin.
Maybe the fact supporting your local football team requires a degree of partisan tribalism and borderline mob mentality, that goes against the grain of the 'Love for all, hatred for none' principles of the teachings of Islam... and explains the demographic juxtaposition of your typical Saturday afternoon crowd at Kenilworth Road.
Either way, it's outside my scope of learning and understanding, so I won't expound further.
In Luton, people just get on with minding their own business and leave everybody else to get on with theirs too and it seems to work... even in the streets around the football ground that are decorated with: 'This area is under Sharia law' stickers.
I've been to the Hatters ground loads of times before and I've never had an ounce of bother in and around these so called 'mean streets'.
Yet the vast majority of people who actually attend matches therein, are white and of English origin.
Maybe the fact supporting your local football team requires a degree of partisan tribalism and borderline mob mentality, that goes against the grain of the 'Love for all, hatred for none' principles of the teachings of Islam... and explains the demographic juxtaposition of your typical Saturday afternoon crowd at Kenilworth Road.
Either way, it's outside my scope of learning and understanding, so I won't expound further.
In Luton, people just get on with minding their own business and leave everybody else to get on with theirs too and it seems to work... even in the streets around the football ground that are decorated with: 'This area is under Sharia law' stickers.
As I entered the ground, the flickering screen in the small bar under the Kenilworth Road Stand, was showing the end of the live Premier League game on Sky TV, where Arsenal were beating Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge.
There have been a lot of high scoring games in the top flight of late, some might say that this is testimony to it being the 'greatest league in the world', but I reckon it just proves a lot of defenders who are supposed to be among the elite, are in truth, just average Joe's who are getting paid far too much.
I used to watch a lot of 1st Division games back in the day, but since the Premier League came along, I've only been to two ... and that was just to tick off a couple of new grounds that I hadn't visited before.
On 5 minutes, Hendon got a free kick, out to the right hand side of Luton's penalty area.
Scott Cousins floated the ball into the box and George McCluskey got up unmarked to knock the ball past the former Mansfield Townand Notts County goalkeeper, Kevin Pilkington.
 |
| It's all a blur for Pilks |
But three minutes later, Luton were awarded a penalty after Dean Beckwith was upended in the box... and yet another former Stags player: Aaron O'Connor netted the equaliser from the resulting spot-kick..
On 13 minutes, the Hatters were in front, when Curtis Osano crossed the ball in from the right and James Dance got in amongst the Hendon defence to head the ball home.
Unfortunately for the goalscorer, it was his last taste of the action and he was stretchered off with a head injury sustained whilst putting his side ahead.
Sport hurts!
On 13 minutes, the Hatters were in front, when Curtis Osano crossed the ball in from the right and James Dance got in amongst the Hendon defence to head the ball home.
Unfortunately for the goalscorer, it was his last taste of the action and he was stretchered off with a head injury sustained whilst putting his side ahead.
Sport hurts!
O'Connor thought he had put Luton 3-1 ahead, when he ran diagonally from right to left across the Hendon defence and nudged the ball gently beyond the keeper's reach... the effort was goal-bound, but Stuart Fleetwood gave it a final touch, just to make sure and to claim the goal for himself, he turned to take the acclaim of the crowd but saw the linesman's flag instead. Fleetwood in being a 'greedy guts' had inadvertently wandered offside and effectively cancelled out O'Connor's second goal ... he'll be popular!
After more good work on the right from Osana, Tommy Wright headed Luton's third goal on 25 minutes.
Hendon looked deflated, but kept things ticking over until the interval when they could regroup and have a fresh look at things. Luton for their part, obviously had a couple of players who could do their visitors some real damage going forward like John Paul Kissock and the aforementioned Osana and thus they were well in control.
After more good work on the right from Osana, Tommy Wright headed Luton's third goal on 25 minutes.
Hendon looked deflated, but kept things ticking over until the interval when they could regroup and have a fresh look at things. Luton for their part, obviously had a couple of players who could do their visitors some real damage going forward like John Paul Kissock and the aforementioned Osana and thus they were well in control.
Hendon started the second half like they wanted to make a game off it and for a while the home crowd started to become restless as their defenders hoofed a series of clearances into touch instead of using the ball to their advantage when they had possession.Elliott Charles received the ball on the edge of the Luton box, he had time to take aim and fire, but rushed his shot and missed woefully in front of the travelling Hendon supporters.
The visitors were applying a lot of pressure around the Hatters box, but they couldn't quite find the key to unlock their hosts defence.
In the seventy first minute, the Greens were briefly down to nine men while Jamie Busbly was off the pitch receiving treatment for a head injury.
As things stood at this point, 5-1 was perhaps a bit of a flattering margin for Luton to be in front by, but by the end of the game, taking into account the O'Connor effort that Fleetwood had rendered null and void in the first half and a whole load of chances that went begging late on, the Hatters were actually good value for their victory.
It did get a bit like the Alamo out on the field of play as the clock ticked down and Luton continued to pummel the former European Amateur champions and three time FA Amateur cup winners.
FT: Luton Town 5 v Hendon 1
It did get a bit like the Alamo out on the field of play as the clock ticked down and Luton continued to pummel the former European Amateur champions and three time FA Amateur cup winners.
FT: Luton Town 5 v Hendon 1
They were enthusing already about Izzy's next expedition to Bedfordshire, while I smiled to myself, secure in the knowledge that I already have the fixtures for Dunstable Town, Wooton Blue Cross and Ampthill Town tucked away in my back pocket.
Travel tip ... sticking to the legal speed limit, as one does when there is a minor in the car, bugger the M1, because the A6, A421 and A1 route back up to North Notts from Luton is a much quicker route.
