| Pos. 12th= (1pt) | FRIDAY 2 AUGUST 2019 | Pos. 12th= (1pt) | ||
| Luton | 3-3 | Boro | ||
| Bradley (14) Cranie (24) Collins (85) |
50% 12(4) 8 14 |
POSSESSION SHOTS (on target) CORNERS FOULS |
50% 17(8) 11 20 |
Fletcher (7) Assombalonga (37) Wing (68) |
Mad Tea-Time Party at the Hatters
This season’s inaugural Championship fixture rewarded Boro with a Friday night trip down to sunny Kenilworth Road to face newly promoted Luton. Both sides had new Managers in the dugout, Woodgate for Boro and former Boro Academy Coach Graeme Jones for the Hatters. Pre-match predictions seemed unable to identify a clear favourite with home and away wins along with draws evenly spread amongst punters and expert predictors alike. Luton had momentum from last season’s promotion charge whilst Boro had relieved themselves of their managerial millstone from around their necks.
Injury wise Woodgate was sweating over Randolph, Friend and Fry with the latter certain to miss out and the first two highly questionable. The line-up saw Randolph return in goal but Friend and Fry missing with young Coulson deservedly getting a start at LB. Ayala and Shotton were the only two fit senior CB’s with Ayala as Captain for the evening. Howson took up the RB slot in a 433. Wing, Clayton and McNair were the middle three with Johnson, Assombalonga and Fletcher as the front three adorned in the new White away shirt, White shorts and Red socks. Luton had what can only be described as a dog’s dinner of a kit with a red (blood orange?) shirt with white sleeves, navy trim and Navy shorts and white socks. Jones gave five new signings an airing with ex Boro men Martin Crainie at RB and Jacob Butterfield on the bench. Boro’s two new boys Browne and Bola were on the bench along with Pears, Wood, Tav, Saville and Gestede.
Boro got forward quickly with a corner in the opening minute which was hit low and scrappily cleared by Luton. The tempo was certainly more active from Boro but looked a bit frenetic with Coulson earning the early tussles with confident and silky skills. A fourth minute shot from Fletcher was deflected out but the Ref awarded a goal kick for the home side as the ball covered more yards in those opening minutes than in the full 90 of a Pulis match. Johnson did well holding the ball up against two defenders using upper body strength allowing Wing to nip in and win a corner. Johnson then delivered said corner which was cleared back out to him and Marvin lofted in a perfect cross into the middle of the box where Fletcher rose to head home to put Boro ahead.
Boro broke immediately after the restart and Johnson playing on the right was again involved in the build-up which saw Clayts break out and Wing launch a rocket shot straight at Sluga making his debut tonight in the Hatters goal. A Luton corner was cleared out as they pushed for an equaliser but Boro broke again and a slick Johnson pass had just too much on it for Britt bursting through. Luton were now starting to clear their heads and won a succession of frustrating fee kicks which had Clayton heading clear a weak 13th minute effort for a throw in. Just a minute beforehand Ayala had to head out to concede a corner to clear a fierce cross into Randolph’s box.
On the quarter hour Coulson blocked a McManaman cross to concede a corner. The Shinnie taken corner was initially headed clear but came straight back in which was headed out by Ayala but straight to Sonny Bradley who launched a volley from twenty yards out leaving Randolph no chance, 1-1 and going gung ho instead of taking the sting out of the game had cost Boro their slender lead. Johnson had another chance then McNair saw a long-range speculative effort go out for a corner. Johnson sent it in and out it went for another corner which Wing delivered but Luton then broke with McManaman wrestling Coulson out of the way as the game was literally end to end, kick and rush football.
A cross was hastily headed out by Ayala for a corner but the incoming corner was inevitably headed in by a climbing Crainie over Johnson to head the Hatters 2-1 in front. Taking an early lead was great but the naivety afterwards in Boro leaving themselves wide open was telling and the tide had turned with 25 minutes gone and the visitors now looking distinctly nervy. A 26th minute Shinnie free kick had too much on it as Crainie once again went up to try and net a second in quick succession. Boro’s swashbuckling style was now in contrast to Luton who were composing themselves, settling in, albeit with perhaps misplaced confidence. At this stage the game looked like there would be plenty of more goals in it. Boro were scrapping their way back into this but relying on long balls up to Britt to make a trademark run which were being cleaned up with ease by the new look Luton defence.
A right-wing Lewis Wing cross looked to be met by Britt but the Ref adjudged Britt to have dragged down his opposing number as the ball was cleared off the line by the Keeper Sluga. McManaman won another free kick off Coulson, Shinnie floated in another dangerous ball which fortunately was cleared but only to concede another free kick on the opposite flank. Shinnie once again took it but this time short to Tunnicliffe who complicated the move by pausing and with the impetus lost it was eventually stopped courtesy of a free kick to Boro who then hoofed it up field and straight out of play on the left touchline. On 35 minutes Coulson beat two men on a mazy run finding Johnson on the opposite edge of the box who in turn curled in a wicked left foot shot that had Sluga stretching at the far top corner. After his goalkeeping heroics he then bizarrely rolled the ball out but inside his own box to a defender being closed down by Johnson which as a consequence ended up with a poor pass to another Luton defender which was well read and intercepted by Fletcher feeding Britt who daisy cut his shot that squirmed underneath Sluga at his near post to make it 2-2 on 37 minutes.
Two minutes later and McManaman then met a cross but skewed his shot wide with Randolph breathing a sigh of relief as the hectic nature showed no signs of easing off. Just before that Fletcher was booked for taking out Crainie in the build-up. Boro were now getting back into the game with confidence levels boosted by that equaliser but the half was still ending with crazy end-to-end frantic football. McNair was hauled down by Mpanzu for a yellow. Wing took the free kick from 30 yards out and won a corner for his effort on the left which he took himself, which in turn eventually went out for a throw and then immediately a right-sided corner that Johnson took but was cleared and then hit well over for the first half to end all square.
If you managed to keep up with all that and it made some sense then congratulations because the game itself was that action packed one blink and you missed a shot or a free kick in between. That half was manic, as entertaining as it will undoubtedly have been for the neutrals and Sky viewers both sets of fans will probably be requiring several changes of underwear after those kick a goal rush 45 minutes.
The second half started with screams from the local Mark Page over the tannoy and Boro now kicking towards the travelling army with Coulson immediately sending two balls into the Luton box. As had been par for the game thus far Luton then broke and a powerful Shinnie corner was unintentionally headed clear by his own player, Collins. Three minutes into the half and Collins was once again in the mix meeting a cross with his hand to almost take the lead but instead earning himself a yellow card. Another warning shot to Boro to calm things down if one was needed. A Howson break to Johnson saw a clever lofted dink to McNair who then lobbed the ball onto Sluga’s crossbar as the mad nature of this game continued unabated. On 53 minutes Lewis Wing launched a trademark long range rocket but it sailed well over into the red away end.
Boro were chasing and harrying, closing down quickly in the opposition half and then Luton broke with McManaman again with Howson tracking and chasing Collins into the Boro box to head clear. The resulting corner ended in chaotic defending and clearances and a fierce drive coming in towards the packed box with justifiable home claims for a penalty as Wing brought down Potts.
Luton were now turning the screw on a less than convincing Boro defensive display. Yet another Shinnie corner was headed clear by Clayton and eventually the phase of play ended with a calming Boro goal kick during which Butterfield came on for Lee. Wing was then booked on 60 minutes for a block which that man Shinie once more tee’d up from 40 yards out which was headed clear by Ayala and hoofed 100 yards from danger by Howson. Boro were up next with two Coulson crosses in quick succession drawing the ooh’s and aah’s from the away end. A Wing shot was then deflected out for a corner as Boro kept up the pressure. The Luton substitution seemed to have perversely worked in Boro’s favour as with Jones switching his side around and they now looked a little lost.
An over hit Johnson corner on 66 minutes allowed a momentary opportunity for all involved to catch a breath. A series of impressive inter-passing between Howson, McNair and Johnson then set Howson off on a run into the box laying it off for Wing who ripped the back out of Sluga’s net from the edge of the 18 yard box, 3-2 to Boro. Cornick then came on for Shinnie as Jones tweaked his set up yet again.
Browne was then readied by Boro for Marvin Johnson on 70 minutes. Browne quickly became involved in two slick moves and should have won a free kick on the goal line but the ball came back out, collected by Wing who drove another shot in low but it went wide. McNair then played Wing in but the ball this time just had a few inches too much pace.
Danger man McManaman then thankfully went off as Luton were now trying to desperately get something out of this game with 15 minutes remaining. Browne then performed a backwards reverse nutmeg on Potts to win a free kick near the corner flag, which was taken by Wing but was headed clear. A quick interception saw Browne played through to win a corner delivered in by Wing, headed by Ayala and cleared off the line by Sluga. Luton immediately broke and Randolph had to be sharp to meet a cross to keep the slender lead intact then we witnessed a break from Boro, a clever ball flicked through to Britt, unmarked, clean in on goal, just six yards out with only Sluga to beat but he fluffed his lines. It was harder to miss than score! As the ball yo-yo’ed back into the Luton half from that miss a late tackle by Crainie on Coulson saw a penalty to Boro on 81 minutes.
Phew, this was taking some keeping up with! Britt steadied himself (perhaps too much) and took his Penalty which probably landed in Linthorpe Road. This was Britt back to the default Britt we all know; give him a slim chance and he scores, give him time to think and pick his spot with a simple tap in and he misses. He nearly made amends a second (OK maybe three) later when he barged through forcing Sluga to just nick the ball off his foot, this was now becoming the footballing definition of madness.
A Luton free kick was half cleared but they came straight back at Boro as we failed to clear our lines and a poor white shirted decision to loop a backwards header set up Potts (I think) who evaded and coolly rounded a spread-eagled Howson and a despairing Wing in the box to feed Collins to fire the home side level, 3-3 with just single digit minutes remaining. Saville then came on for McNair as this game still looked to have plenty of twists and turns left in the dying moments. Two minutes now remaining and Luton were turning the screw as balls fizzed across Randolph’s box. At the other end Fletcher was bundled through by Britt but his near post shot was dealt with by Sluga with only seconds now of normal time remaining.
Four additional minutes went up as a Coulson cross was over hit. Two minutes remaining of added time and Randolph pulled off a worldie reactionary save which Coulson was then called upon to bravely block the follow up shot. When the dust cleared and bodies counted Dan Potts was laid prostrate with what looked like a dislocated shoulder and no remaining subs for Jones. Potts came back on, one armed, determined to stay and fight till the death. A Luton corner was cleared out to the wincing Potts who played in Butterfield for a wasted cross out for a Boro throw. Luton had been unbeaten since March 2018 at home and tonight was to be no different as the whistle went having deservedly earned their draw.
A crazy, indeed manic game which had more shots than we probably saw all last season from Boro. Britt’s glaring misses aside Boro should have shown more experience and professionalism when they took the lead. No disrespect to Luton but there are far more capable sides in this division, playing with no regard to managing the game or seeing it out will result in some seriously heavy defeats if this continues as exciting as it undoubtedly was. Unarguably plenty of positives and 10/10 for entertainment but Britt’s misses and schoolboy defending cost us all three points tonight. Plenty for the optimists to savour but tactically we can’t go through a season being so open and soft centred. Had it not been for Randolph’s last minute save we would have lost tonight despite scoring three goals. MOM for Boro was Johnson with very worthy mentions for McNair, Howson and Coulson.