www.lutonfc.com - By Luton Fans, For Luton Fans

Hartlepool was perhaps the last place the Hatters wanted to go after most of the players had been ill and sick in bed, but on the bitterly cold North-East coast, Luton served up a warm treat to please both their manager and the travelling fans.

Although the flu bug was still hanging over Kenilworth Road, unlike last week, manager Joe Kinnear had a decent and fit-enough squad to take to the north-east. One major change since the Hatters last game, two weeks ago at Macclesfield, was the introduction of Mark Ovendale instead of Carl Emberson in goal. Injury to Russ Perrett kept him out and Chris Coyne partnered new signing David Bayliss in the middle of defence, while Emmerson Boyce and Ian Hillier played as attacking full backs. Matthew Taylor switched to left wing in place of the injured and flu-hit Jean-Louis Valois, and he joined midfield regulars Matthew Spring, captain Kevin Nicholls and Ahmet Brkovic. Former Hartlepool striker Steve Howard joined Dean Crowe up front.

After the pasting they received at Macclesfield a fortnight ago, Luton were in the hunt to record their first ever win at Victoria Park, a place in which the home side had lost three times, but recently had picked up a good patch of form - form which had taken them off the bottom of the table, winning four consecutive matches and within a few points off the play-offs. Kinnear knew it would be difficult, given the fact Hull came away with 4-0 thumping and Rochdale only managed a draw.

The first-half was littered with fouls and bookings, unfortunately, five of those Luton players, as Howard, Nicholls, Brkovic, Bayliss and Hillier were all cautioned before half-time in a fifteen-minute period. Both sides, however, were looking sharp and fired up for a game re-arranged after both sides failed to progress in the FA Cup.

Chris Coyne defends admirably

Chris Coyne defends admarably.

'Pool were looking the most dangerous in the open exchanges with Richie Humphreys going close twice after the home midfield cleverly created the openings. Humphreys though shot wide on both occasions.

Matthew Spring was the man making things happening for the Hatters and Matthew Taylor was providing pace and the much-needed good cross on the left flank. Taylor had the Hatters first chance, a glaring miss after a Hillier throw was nodded on by Howard - who was being booed by the home faithful after an early nudge on Jon Bass.

Both sides played some excellent football in a ten minute spell in which both sides failed to find the target. Humphreys fired wide and across goal after bursting through on 26 minutes and the referee waved away claims of a penalty and then booked Kevin Nicholls.

Unfortunately, the end product was offside. Dean Crowe did well to fend off defenders and set up Matthew Taylor who beat two defenders to cross for Howard, whose header was turned over by Williams.

But on the half hour it was Luton who deservedly took the lead. A cross from a half cleared corner by Ahmet Brkovic found Steve Howard who challenged 'Pool keeper Williams, who under pressure from Howard, dropped the ball and without the referee signaling a foul, Dean Crowe was quickest to pounce and fire home the opener.

Matthew Taylor slots home Luton's second goal

Matthew Taylor scores for the Hatters.

The Hatters then doubled their lead right on half-time with another one. Crowe held the ball up once more before feeding Matthew Spring who spread a wonderful ball across to Matthew Taylor at the back post and he fired past Williams for the Hatters second.

Matthew Taylor celebrates his goal with Steve Howard

Taylor celebrates his goal with Howard.

After the amount of bookings Luton picked up in the opening half, the inevitable happened midway through the second-half. Ian Hillier made a late challenge on Smith and referee Leake showed Hillier his second yellow and he was off. The sending off was what the home side needed, piling on the pressure which was almost non-stop for the final half-hour, although before the dismissal of Hillier, the hosts had begun to assert the pressure, underlined by three successive corners and a excellent save by Ovendale to thwart Clarke in the opening five minutes of the half.

A shuffle about saw Taylor drop to left-back and play three in midfield, as the hosts stepped up the pressure. Four minutes after Hilliers' sending off Hartlepool scored. Clarke smashed a sizzling drive goal wards which was too hot for Ovendale to handle and the ball bounced nicely in front of Humphreys who made no mistake, poking home from close range.

But the Hatters defended stoutly, with Coyne and Bayliss winning the majority if not all of the headers and the rest of the team getting in an early chance to dispossess the hosts.

A rare venture into the Hartlepool half saw Howard waste an excellent opportunity to seal the win, shooting straight at Williams with Spring in space screaming for the ball, unmarked on the penalty spot. Howard, though, had won the acclaim from the visiting fans for his non-stop work-rate throughout the match.

The hosts could only cross and hope that an attacking head would nod home the equaliser, but all they found was Coyne and Bayliss who coped admirably and ensured that the Hatters remained in front.

Ovendale made two fine saves to keep Luton in front. Firstly denying youngster Adam Boyd and then an excellent save to deny a goal ward header by Clarke. Gordon Simms then went looking for a penalty but only won a corner as the Hatters defended desperately, but with great affect - frustrating the home side.

Four minutes were added but with the introduction of Adrian Forbes, it saw the Hatters keep the ball and hang on to their lead. The hosts failed to equalise during stoppage time as Luton held on to a magnificent and well deserved victory which lifted them to fourth in the table.

Baz's Day...

8 December 2001

Hartlepool United 1-2 Luton Town

Andrew Barringer

Travel - An early start, getting up at 7 and leaving Westoning at 8 and Luton half-an-hour later. M1 and A1 most of the way, stopping once and arriving in Hartlepool at around 1.30-45pm. On the way back we stopped once and I got home at around 10.

Victoria Park - It isn't a bad ground at all. The home end terrace was smart and tidy and pretty much full. One of the side stands was quite unusual given the fact the seats were orange and green, and this stand had seats behind a paddock. A new stand was to our left and was an all-seated one with executive boxes at the rear. The Rink End - where the Hatters fans sat - was all-seated and held 741, although there were quite a few pillars obstructing the view.

Hatters Fans - Around 300. Vocal and easily out sung the passionate home crowd for long periods. Urged the team on when under pressure in the second-half.

Hartlepool Fans - The 'Pool fans behind the goal made the most noise, trying to suck in an equaliser, but in the first-half were mainly quiet and booed Steve Howard after his early booking.

Programme - For £2 and 32 pages, this rates as one of the worst this season. Historical articles were the main interest to Luton fans, but the usual fare of stats and club news along with adverts filled this poor publication.

Food - I sampled a burger (£1.50) and a hot dog (£1.30). Both didn't look that appetising whatsoever, although the hot dog was marginally better. The coffee (70p) was good. Also on sale were Pies (£1.70) and confectionary.

Last Word - It was an excellent performance in a game of two halves. The Hatters did very well to be 2-0 up at half-time, with the second goal being the best of them. Luton did even better to defend their lead in the second-half, with Coyne and Ovendale the heroes of the afternoon to secure the Hatters sixth away win of the season.

Kinnear's Comments

8 December 2001

Hartlepool United 1-2 Luton Town

Joe Kinnear

"We really did have to work hard and they gave everything they possibly can. I have no complaints with the effort they put in today, especially as we had five key players missing today.

“In the end, they pinned us back and were throwing everything at us. I thought we dropped too deep, but that’s inevitable. Players get tired and we were hanging on really. the two centre halves I thought did exceptionally well in the air. And like everything else you need a bit of luck in and around the goalmouth. I don’t know how long over we played at the end. It seemed like another five minutes. It seemed a lot longer than that!

“Then the keeper Ovendale’s done well. He pulled off a couple of magnificent saves. One great left-handed save. He was possibly at fault for the one he spilled out of his hands for them to knock in again. So a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde there from the keeper. He’s made the important save to keep us in the game at 2-1 but I think he’ll be disappointed with the one that he spilled out for the shot. If he holds on to that then it’s not a goal.

“Emberson wasn’t injured. I just decided to change things round. Manager’s prerogative.

“It was backs to the wall. We had to dig in after we made things difficult for ourselves. I’m disappointed in young Hillier. He’s a young kid, he was playing exceptionally well, but the annoying thing is that I spent more or less the entire half time telling players to stay on their feet, not to dive in. I’ll have to sit down and have a serious talk to him because other than that he was playing very well. We had five players on yellow cards so we were dicing with death at times - five players who were liable to be sent off. I thought some of the bookings were a little bit harsh, but nevertheless we should have kept a little bit more composure. I couldn’t work out any of the bookings. I asked the third official what was going on. We had a spate of one after another after another. We went out with the determination not to get beaten. Maybe that led to some late challenges, but not vicious challenges.

“But the kid’s dived in again and then really it was difficult to organise because we were a little bit thin on the bench and it was difficult to re-shape the side. And even some of the players on the bench weren’t completely fit. Douglas was humming and hahing with a groin injury and hadn’t trained this week, but I had to throw him in. Then Taylor went back there and he had been doing very well in midfield. I thought he took his goal very well and he was always a threat down that side and we had a good shape and balance to the side, so when we got the second goal I was never in any doubt that we were going to win it, but of course the sending off changed everything.“The last time Taylor played forward he stuck two in at Exeter, so we reminded him about that in the team talk and I said: ‘See if you can do the same for us today’.

“I thought Coyne was outstanding. I thought both centre halves did well. I was pleased for Bayliss because he did very well considering that he hadn’t even trained with us. He was an unknown quantity. We had a touch of luck really. We didn’t have a centre half and I spent hours upon hours ringing up everybody that I could possibly think of and then his name popped up. I rang his agent up and asked if he would come to us until the end of the season because I never know with Perrett. His calf’s going to be good one minute and disappointing the next. Tears it one minute, back in training the next. I thought he’d definitely be fit for this game, but he had a fitness test on Thursday and broke down. Then we had a fitness test on Skelton on Thursday and he broke down, so we were all over the shop really.

“But it’s a great three points, no question. I think that’s our sixth away win of the season, so I can’t ask for any more than that. I don’t know if there’s anyone in the league who’s won more than that away from home than us, but I’m delighted.

“It’s been a good day for everybody. I’m pleased for the supporters. They’ve travelled all this way and money’s a bit scarce at Christmas for the fans, but they’ve still managed to fork out and support us yet again so at least we sent them home happy with maximum points.

“The expectation level is very high at Luton. Everybody’s expecting us to win every single week. But we can live with that.”