This match report was kindly provided courtesy of the superb Luton Town news Website www.lutontoday.co.uk.  Lutontoday.co.uk kindly allow us to use their match reports, and, as Hatters fans, we'd urge you to check out their excellent Website, which always contains up-to-date Luton Town news, views and match reports.  The photos are also with the kind permission of Luton Town Football Club and their excellent photographer Gareth Owen.

VENUE Fitness First Stadium ATTENDANCE 5,230 REFEREE Steve Bennett (Kent) MATCH DATE 27 January 2009 KICK OFF TIME 19:45

AFC BOURNEMOUTH David Button   Rhoys Wiggins   Shaun Cooper Jason Pearce Joel Ward   Sammy Igoe   Jeff Goulding 72   Danny Hollands   Jake Thomson   Josh McQuoid 61   Marvin Bartley   Steve Fletcher   Alan Connell 72   Brett Pitman   SUBS NOT USED Ryan Garry   Shwan Jalal

LUTON TOWN Conrad Logan   Michael Spillane   Ian Roper Sol Davis 50   Mark Bower   Ed Asafu-Adjaye   Rossi Jarvis   Jake Howells 84   Asa Hall Kevin Nicholls Ian Henderson 67   Kevin Gallen   Sam Parkin   Akanni-Sunday Wasiu   SUBS NOT USED Claude Gnakpa   Dean Brill

Match Report	27 January 2009
AFC Bournemouth 1 - 1 Luton Town

AFC BOURNEMOUTH 1 Danny Hollands '29  LUTON TOWN 1 Danny Hollands (own goal) '11

MUST-WIN CLASH ENDS ALL SQUARE...

With both penalised teams desperately needing victory to boost their bids against drop, this relegation dogfight somewhat unsurprisingly ended all square.

Dogged Luton put in a battling performing and almost won it at the death when Kevin Gallen's low effort was cleared off the line.

But sadly it was not to be for the Hatters, as the visitors had to settle for a point after Danny Hollands atoned for his bizarre early own goal with the equaliser midway through the first-half.

With Chris Martin suspended for the game following his red card against Bradford City on Saturday, the Hatters made three changes to their starting 11.

Sam Parkin started up front alongside Gallen and Sunday Wasiu, with Ian Henderson dropping to the bench. New Bradford loan signing Mark Bower started in the heart of the Hatters' defence, with Sol Davis taking his place on the bench. Captain Kevin Nicholls, meanwhile, returned to Luton's midfield.

The hosts enjoyed most of the early pressure with Brett Pitman being caught offside on three minutes before winning a free-kick moments later that was blasted into Luton's defensive wall.

"Luton got a huge slice of luck to take the lead on 11 minutes"

But Luton got a huge slice of luck to take the lead on 11 minutes. A deep cross into the box was headed back across goal by Parkin and, in no apparent danger, Hollands bizarrely diverted the ball past his own keeper and into the back of the net.

Apart from the goal, it was a largely cagey opening from both teams, with the Hatters happy to eat up time wherever possible.

"Bournemouth equalised out of the blue two minutes later"

Nicholls announced his return to first team duties when he was somewhat harshly booked for persistent fouling on 27 minutes, while Bournemouth equalised out of the blue two minutes later.

Pitman did well to burst past Edward Asafu-Adjaye on the right and his dangerous cross had Luton's defence at sixes and sevens.

The ball almost fell to crowd favourite Steve Fletcher as Michael Spillane attempted to clear, but Conrad Logan somehow managed to scramble the ball away to Hollands on the edge of the area. And the midfielder atoned for his earlier howler by powering past the helpless Logan.

Luton made a sluggish start to the second-half as Bournemouth looked the hungrier for victory.

And the Cherries should have taken the lead when Davis' mistake put Jake Thomson in on the edge of Luton's area. Thomson rolled the ball to Fletcher, but he could only spoon the ball over the bar when well placed.

Luton were riding their luck as the Cherries put a number of dangerous balls into their box that they struggled to defend.

But the visitors had a decent chance to take the lead on 67 when Wasiu set up Gallen on the edge of the area, after a good flick on by Parkin, but the veteran hit man could only fire down into the ground and wide.

Wasiu then did well to swivel on to Davis' throw on 73 minutes, but could only blaze over from the edge of the box.

Ragged passing from the Hatters severely limited their chances in the second half and going into the closing stages it was the Cherries who looked most likely to snatch victory, before Luton took control at the death

A forceful run by Rossi Jarvis earned Luton a free-kick in a good position with nine minutes left, but a clumsy challenge from Parkin brought a premature end to Luton's goal threat.

With just three minutes left, Luton twice went close to snatching a winner. First Jake Howells' corner caused all kinds of problems in the Cherries defence and, after Hall had had his close range effort blocked, the ball ran loose to Gallen on the edge of the box. His low drive eluded everyone except substitute Alan Connell who somehow got back to hack the ball off the line.

Parkin and Waisu then combined in the box seconds later, but Parkin could only curl his effort just over the bar.

In an end-to-end finale, Logan almost fly-hacked Bower's back pass into his own net, while only some desperate defending kept out Jeff Goulding as the match ended all square.

Harford's Comments	27 January 2009
AFC Bournemouth 1-1 Luton Town "In different circumstances I would be more than satisfied with the performance. "It feels like another defeat in the changing room. But one defeat in 12 is crazy. "People will look at our situation and think we can't get out of it, but hopefully we will beat Bury and beat Grimsby. "We must convert those draws into wins. "The conditions weren't great in the second-half and favoured Bournemouth. They threw in Steve Fletcher and he is a handful. "We created the majority of the chances, especially later in the game. Kevin Gallen had one cleared off the line and Sam Parkin has fired wide. "We do leave ourselves a little bit open because of the formation we play. "Obviously when you give away the ball a little bit carelessly like we did in the first-half you leave yourself open. "It fell to Danny Hollands who has a decent left foot and he put it in the left-hand top corner. "Kevin Nicholls came through just under 70 minutes and played a little bit longer than we wanted him to, and he showed his quality while he was out there. "Ed Asafu-Adjaye went alongside Mark Bower well, who I thought had an exceptional debut. He is an experienced player and has played over 200 games in the Championship and League One and I think he settled us down a little bit and it looked like he had played all season at centre-half."

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