Billed as “Joe Kinnear’s Luton”, boasting three wins on the bounce, and with all the confidence a top-class manager and the promise of plenty of cash for the team, the Luton Town side that actually turned up at Bescot last night were in truth a big disappointment.
Credit for this must go to Sir Ray, celebrating his 150th game in charge of the Saddlers, and how he has transformed the club since his arrival three years ago. Then Luton were a promotion-chasing outfit, and Walsall were scrapping in mid-table. Now, the roles are very much reversed.
Ray took one look at the pitch before kick-off and preferred Dean Keates in midfield to Saturday’s penalty-hero Ronnie Ekelund. Andy Tillson was ruled out, and so Tony Barras partnered Ian Roper at the back. Pedro was restored to the wing in place of Darren Wrack. From the start it became clear Walsall had too much appetite, energy and strength for Luton - with Brett Angell going on to cause their inexperienced central defensive pairing problems throughout the game. The first goal arrived on 12 minutes, difficult to see exactly what happened from the other end of the pitch, but after a scramble in the box, Jorge Leitao hit his 16th of the season with an overhead effort. After more Walsall pressing that lead was extended when Tom Bennett burst down the right and sent a powerful shot across the Luton keeper. He should really have saved it, but varying reports indicated it either hit a pot-hole, or took a nasty bounce, or the keeper simply fluffed it. Anyway, it didn’t matter, we were 2 up. And should have gone in 3-0 up but Jorge put a clear header wide right on the whistle.
Half time Kinnear gambled and took both strikers off - a tribute to Walsall’s first half tenacity that had seen Luton barely have a shot. But the change did wake Luton up, and they enjoyed a decent 15 minute spell that shows they can probably still avoid relegation. In the middle of this purple patch Spring scored to reduce it to 2-1, and a few anxious faces looked up from the Balti pies. Luckily, any nerves soon vanished when a clearance from Ovendale fell neatly onto Barras’ head - his accuracy found Byfield clear and in on goal, and Dazza’s pace did the rest - shooting coolly for a 3-1 score, which was how it finished.
Afterwards Kinnear blamed the pitch, saying it was a disgrace to play on a cow-field. Whilst not making excuses for the pitch, which visitors to this site have already acknowledged is very poor, it was the same for both sides, and it is pretty rich for anyone from Luton to moan about another club’s facilities when their own home, Kenilworth Road, is 1) built in a housing estate, 2) only has 3 sides, 3) has catering that ranks the worst in the league, 4) makes losses in excess of 2 million a season, and 5) has an executive suite named after a failed national TV presenter (Nick Owen - although he is good on Midlands Today).
Luton is home to a club that has been chronically financially mismanaged for years. Mind you, you won’t hear Joe Kinnear complaining. He’s on a cool 200k basic salary at Luton with a 300k bonus if he keeps them up. How long can their board afford that? After all,