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VENUE Kenilworth Road ATTENDANCE 8,711 REFEREE A P D'Urso (Essex) MATCH DATE 17 February 2009 KICK OFF TIME 19:45

LUTON TOWN Lewis Price   Michael Spillane   Jake Howells 64   Ian Roper   Asa Hall 25   Ed Asafu-Adjaye   Sol Davis Ryan Charles 84   Claude Gnakpa   Keith Keane   Rossi Jarvis   Chris Martin   Sam Parkin   Tom Craddock   SUBS NOT USED Dean Brill   Paul McVeigh

BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION Michel Kuipers   Andrew Whing   Adam Virgo   Adam El-Abd   David Livermore Chris Birchall   Jason Jarrett Tommy Fraser   Dean Cox   Tommy Elphick 45   Calvin Andrew   Steve Cook 77   Nicky Forster   SUBS NOT USED Jonny Dixon   Colin Hawkins   John Sullivan

Match Report	17 February 2009
Luton Town 1 - 1 Brighton & Hove Albion

LUTON TOWN 1 Tom Craddock '2  BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION 1 Nicky Forster '20

HAPPY HATTERS HEADING FOR WEMBLEY...

"Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)...". You know the rest. Sing it loud and proud because Luton Town, against all the adversity of a season to forget, are going to Wembley.

Keeper Lewis Price was the hero against ten-man Brighton & Hove Albion as he saved Jason Jarrett and Chris Birchill's spot-kicks to send the Hatters back to the famous stadium, 50 years after their first visit.

A pitch invasion after the shootout saw a packed Kenilworth Road letting off the steam of a year and a half of nothing but doom and gloom - and who can blame them.

Even before a ball had been kicked fans in the executive boxes used the occasion and glare of the television cameras to aim some venom at the game's governing bodies with a banner that read 'The FA and FL. Killing small clubs since 1992'.

And beating Scunthorpe United on April 5 for their first piece of silverware in 21 years will be the perfect way to rub the Football League's noses in it, even if they do drop into the Blue Square Premier come May.

A victory in north London won't be the last the League hears from the Hatters if they do go down as it could set a precedent as to whether they're allowed to defend it.

But that's something for another day. For now it's celebration time and the hope that this will also spur the ultimate League survival fight.

Luton made five changes from the team that lost to Dagenham & Redbridge with Claude Gnakpa, Sol Davis, Keith Keane, Sam Parkin and Chris Martin all making a return to the starting line-up.

On Albion's side was former Hatter Calvin Andrew making his first return to Kenilworth Road since signing for Crystal Palace.

"The Hatters got off to a dream start"

The Hatters got off to a dream start when on the stroke of the second minute, Chris Martin capitalised on a calamitous Chuckle Brothers game of 'to me, to you' between keeper Michel Kuipers and Adam Virgo on the edge of the area which allowed the youngster to stroke into an empty net.

Keane was rattling cages in the centre of the park while Parkin and Craddock looked a threat up-front, and it was looking very promising for 19 minutes.

That was until Nicky Forster shot a warning across Luton's boughs. He was allowed a clean run on goal with Roper left flat-footed and he should have done better than to pull his shot wide.

"Forster made no mistake crashing the ball under the keeper's despairing dive"

He learnt from his error seconds later where Luton simply did not. Yet again the striker was allowed to bear down on Price's goal after Birchill slipped him in. This time he made no mistake crashing the ball under the keeper's despairing dive.

Luton were rocked for five minutes but battled through and on 33 minutes Martin came agonisingly close to restoring the lead. A neat one-two with Craddock on the edge of the Brighton box allowed him to thunder a shot inches passed the post.

Luton were working their way through the Albion defence though, helped by the composure of Craddock in holding the ball up.

Then on the stroke of half-time the Hatters were handed an advantage after Dave Livemore floored Michael Spillane with a late challenge.

Premiership referee Andy D'Urso, consulted his assistant before issuing a red card, which, after Luton's luck with referees lately, was a perhaps slice of the good kind of karma at last.

While for Brighton, Andrew did a familiar disappearing act at Kenilworth Road - exhibiting the first touch of a brick wall, for Luton, Craddock was again finding time on the ball after the break.

It was his partner, Martin, who was benefiting, again coming close just before the hour.

The man advantage was paying off with the Hatters camped in the Brighton half, and Keith Keane came equally close on 69 minutes with a half volley.

Kuipers made up for an unconvincing display in the second minute of added time as Martin smashed another drive goal wards, but the keeper held on to it with Parkin lurking and looking to make a hero of himself.

It was the last act, giving way to the lottery of penalties and Luton's third success out of three in them this season.

Harford's Comments	17 February 2009
Luton Town 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion “The fans have played a massive part in terms of backing the team in our current situation. "Our League tally of points isn't what we expected and I'm disappointed with that. The fans I'm sure are but they keep coming here (Kenilworth Road). We are the second biggest supported club in League Two. "The fans have had two or three bad years with disappointment after disappointment and they keep turning out. Tonight was a fantastic atmosphere and they helped us through it. “The fans will probably get fined by the FA now for the pitch invasion! "I wouldn't say it's a relief to get to Wembley. It was deserved because of the way we performed in the competition and now we want to go and win it. "I'm not bothered about me. I'm pleased firstly for the fans, secondly for the players and then for the new people who have taken over this club. "They had a tough job and this club could have gone out of business completely without the introduction of the 2020 people. "This club was going nowhere, and I know that because I live in the area, I know the history and I know what's going on here. So they've done a fantastic job of taking over the mantle, cutting the wage bill by nearly £4 million in 12 months. That is a massive thing we've achieved so far. "The ultimate aim is to stay in the Football League. This competition is a bonus but Shrewsbury on Saturday is a bigger game than tonight. "I always believe we're going to survive, but I feel for the players. We'd already agreed for some of them to come to Luton Town before we got hit with the points. "They could have backed out quite easily but they were committed and wanted to join in what we were trying to do. I thank them for that because they've put their careers on the line in the situation we're in at the moment. "It's still massively tricky but they've got their rewards and it's an opportunity for them to play at Wembley and we want to win. “We bought an old Luton Town player, John Faulkner, to the club to talk to the players. He talked with them for an hour about how to deal with stress. He showed a lot of videos like Matthew Pinsent rowing, Colin Montgomerie in the Ryder Cup when he should never have been there and when Luton Town won the Littlewoods Cup. "I was playing in that game and we were drawing 1-1 but we could have got beaten 5-1. But we kept going and we ended up getting two late goals. So it was just an example of playing under pressure and under stress. "As a manager I try and get the players relaxed and in the right frame of mind. I try and get them playing the right way. "I don't know whether the League predicament we're in puts shackles on them. But in the last three games in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy we've played against three good teams in Colchester, Walsall and Brighton and equipped ourselves very well. "I'm sure this win will be a fillip. Now we need to repeat these performances over the next ten games (in the League). "We need to win seven or eight of them and we might put ourselves in a good position. It's alright saying we've got to do it but if we play like this then we will do it."

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