Luton Town 2-0 Southend United - Review!

October 13, 2014 by Alec Hitchman

Luton Town 2-0 Southend United
Don’t Panic...Yet! - Second Defeat In As Many Weeks For Blues.

Southend United looked like a completely different side compared to the team who won four games out of five in September. Newly promoted Luton Town put us in our place, (apart from their time wasting tactics) but all in all, we deserved to lose.

Blues started very slowly and could have gone 1-0 down within the first few minutes, but Daniel Bentley saved our blushes. However, no-one could prepare themselves for what was to come soon after. Fifteen minutes into the game, following some early chances for Blues, in which we had a couple on target, Luton counter-attacked. Alex Lawless cut inside from the left, and looped a right-foot shot out of the reach of Bentley in the Southend goal.

Bad enough? No. Not at all. Soon after, and having absorbed more Luton attacks, Blues were 2-0 down. Cain Bolger had gone off not long after the first goal for treatment on a head injury. But it was the unfortunate Irishman who gifted Luton their second goal. I will stand by him and say that the head injury affected his decision making here! Luton’s most recent attack up to this point had come to nothing, and Bolger found himself in space, with enough time and space to clear the ball away from danger. However, right in front of all 1,032 travelling Blues fans, Bolger passed the ball straight to Luton striker Mark Cullen, who pounced on the opportunity and lifted the ball over Bentley and into the net. Bolger was substituted for Ryan Leonard soon after.

Blues almost got themselves back into the game with some fast attacks on the Luton goal, which once again, proved fruitless. A Kevan Hurst cross caught everyone out, as his cross come shot almost dipped in under the bar, but Luton ‘keeper Mark Tyler dealt with it rather comfortably in the end.

Blues continued to push to get a goal back, but any signs of that weren’t helped by Luton midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, who attemped (and succeeded more often than not) to throw or kick the ball away whenever play was stopped, therefore giving Luton time to regroup and catch their breath.

The afore mentioned Mpanzu was at it again in the second half, wasting time whenever the opportunity arose. He should have been sent off midway through the second half, following a touchline tussle with Blues assistant manager Dave Penney. The ball had gone out of play for a Blues throw in, Penney had picked it up, to hand to Leonard to take the throw in, but oh no, Mpanzu saw it as an opportunity to waste more time, and so attempted to grab the ball from Penney. A scuffle broke out between a few players from each team (Penney & Mpanzu included), and for reasons unknown to Blues fans, Penney was sent to the stands. The referee had a word with Mpanzu, but only booked him.

Following more fruitless Blues attacks, with no shots on target in the second half, the game eventually came to an end. We haven’t got to play Luton until April, hooray!

Up next for Blues is a home match against early season strugglers Exeter City, who won four games in a row before losing to Hartlepool United on Saturday.

Match Stats

Shots
Luton: 10 / Southend: 5

Shots on Target
Luton: 2 / Southend: 3

Corners
Luton: 3 / Southend: 5

Yellow Cards
Luton: 2 / Southend: 4

Red Cards
Luton: 0 / Southend: 0

Possession
Luton: 51% / Southend: 49%

Referee:

Christopher Kavanagh (Rating: 4/10)
The same ref we had in our draw away at Carlisle earlier this season. Never really gave the game a chance to flow and seemed to be in favour of Luton’s time-wasting tactics. Didn’t award Blues an early second half penalty we should have had.

Results

AFC Wimbledon 3-2 Bury
Accrington Stanley 1-2 Dagenham & Redbridge
Cambridge United 5-1 Oxford United
Carlisle United 3-0 Stevenage FC
Exeter City 1-2 Hartlepool United
Morecambe FC 1-3 Wycombe Wanderers
Newport County 3-1 York City
Northampton Town 1-2 Burton Albion
Portsmouth FC 1-1 Mansfield Town
Shrewsbury Town 3-1 Cheltenham Town
Tranmere Rovers 0-1 Plymouth Argyle