Starting Line-Ups

Referee: Paul Melin (Surrey)

Assistant Referees: Stephen Artis (Norfolk) and Fred Graham (Essex)

4th Official: Steve Creighton (Berkshire)

Attendance: 8518

Match Round-Up:

A Two Week Break! And don't we deserve it!

Good time to play Luton? After 3 defeats? Fourth in the table to arch rivals Watford, surely would bring them out fighting at home! Boy did we surprise them! The first half line up had a couple of surprises with McGreal back in place of Lowe and Courtney in for his full debut in place of Duff. The first fifteen minutes were a rather quiet and strange affair. Certainly I was beginning to think it was going to tail off and be a quiet one! Neither side did anything really of note, although Jensen was on form with a couple of stops. With a one two between Spicer and Akinbiyi we all stood up, and his pace took him into the box and he buried one past Beresford. With a great save coming from the beast on the half hour, moments later Spicer again chipped a lovely ball in for Ade, who seemed to be out wide in the box, but a great shot smashed into the right hand corner of the net. We were on fire and Ade was fueling it! After Luton hit the post it all happened. A long ball came straight over the top and Howard was racing down on it, Beast raced out, but certainly from where I was sitting (!) he seemed indecisive and catching it outside the box the referee didn't even hesitate to show him the red card. WIth Spicer of all people taking the rather large jersey from Jensen and the gloves that seemed to come up his arm, we awaited the resulting free kick in anguish. With about 4 corners, if not more, Elliott just couldn't clear a shot off the line and Luton were back in it.

So what do we do for the second half? Some ideas were bring Lowe on and defend like mad, others were bring Dyer on to scare them and run at them. I don't think I heard anyone suggest we bring GNW on for G O'Connor and play Ade on the left of midfield! But we did, and with GNW holding the ball best he could and Ade running from one end of the pitch to the other, we started our most amazing 45 minutes in years! With less than ten minutes on the clock the unbelievable happened, a great ball from Micah got Ade running towards us and with his pace frightening the defender he was brought down, penalty! With a calm side footed shot into the bottom left of Beresfords net, sending him the wrong way, we saw the first burnley hat trick since Gareth Taylor in 2003! We started to believe! With the Luton fans getting restless and some great work from all 10 players we fought and battled every ball. With a rather scrambled goal for Luton on the hour we could have been excused for becoming unsettled, but not this team and not today. With a good save and clearance from Spicer, some woeful shooting from Luton and just a touch of luck, we did it. 3-2 with ten men and no goalkeeper. FANTASTIC!

Final Comments: The referee had a decision to make, a simple and clear decision, was it a goal scoring opportunity when Beast handled? It was with no defenders covering, still getting into the box. A 1 game ban awaits our Beast so we can only presume SC will blood Crossley? MOM goes without saying, ADE AKINBIYI CHAMPIONSHIP TOP SCORER, surely the best £600,000 Burnley have spent in a long time! Finally player ratings; 10 out of 10 for all of them. UP THE CLARETS

Stats:

Possession:
Luton 51%
Burnley 49%

Shots:
Luton 20 On Target 10
Burnley 5 On Target 3

Corners:
Luton 13
Burnley 3

Fouls:
Luton 11
Burnley 12

Luton

M Beresford, K Foley, R Perrett, P Underwood, C Edwards, L Barnett, P Holmes, D Morgan (E Showunmi 73), M Heikkinen, S Howard, W Feeney (R Vine 71).

Subs not used: K Keane, D Brill, A Brkovic.

Burnley

B Jensen, J McGreal, F Sinclair, J Harley, M Hyde, D Courtney, W Elliott (K Lowe 78), G O'Connor (G Noel-Williams 45), J Spicer, J O'Connor, A Akinbiyi.

Subs: D Karbassiyoon, N Dyer, C McCann.

Steve Cotterill's Post Match Comments:

"I've been lucky enough to have had a few big wins as a manager. I've been part of teams that have won at big stadiums.

But that is the best win I've ever had bearing in mind the circumstances.

To come and win at Luton would have been difficult anyway. It got a lot more difficult after the sending-off."

Tranzics Comment: Today SC answered all his critics, including me! Plan B? We went to plan z and it worked. His influence throughout the game, at half time and even interacting with the fans showed, in my opinion, the claret and blue blood is making it's way in!

Other Full Time Scores:

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