Huddersfield Town (0) 1
Edwards 80.
Luton Town (0) 0
SATURDAY 9 MARCH 1996
Attendance 11,950
Reported by Robin Stewart
Huddersfield: Francis, Jenkins, Cowan, Bullock, Sinnott, Gray, Edwards, Makel,
Booth, Jepson, Thornley.
Subs not used: Norman, Dyson, Dunn.
Luton:
Feuer, James, Thomas, Waddock (Linton 78), Davis, Patterson, Guentchev, Oakes, Taylor,
Oldfield (McLaren 78), Thorpe.
Subs Not Used: Harvey.
Booked:
Feuer, Davis, Taylor.
Ref: E Wolstenholme (Blackburn).
A goal
from debutant right-winger Rob Edwards gave Town a totally undeserved victory against
battling Luton. Edwards took his goal very well indeed, and his performance, along
with that of Thornley and Francis were the only bright spots in a truly dismal display.
Too
many players turned in awful, uncommitted performances, with four in particular standing
out: Up front, Andy Booth had an abysmal afternoon, scuffing two early sitters, then
contriving to shoot at the goalie when presented with another sitter. In midfield,
Darren Bullock was still, in my eyes at least, suffering from his injury and was totally
uncompetitive. But the two really bad performances were from the Lee's - Makel and
Sinnott. Makel had a shocker, wholly unable to find his team mates or take advantage
of the numerous good positions he found himself in. The crowd got on his back, which
didn't help at all, and he got worse and worse as the match progressed. True, he had
a shocker, but no player deserves the abuse he was getting. Do the moaners want Richard
Logan and Kevin Lampkin back? Makel has proven ability, and will no doubt play a blinder
in midweek. As for the other Lee, Sinnott, I've doubted his ability all season, and
here was further proof. He surely gave the most comical and error strewn display I've
seen from a Town centre half since the likes of Chris Topping were gracing the hallowed
turf. Sh*t beyond words. Party tricks included falling over in possesion to let an
opposing forward in on goal, passing to opposing forwards, setting the back 4 for
offside then running back 15 yards (his trademark). Please bring back Pat Scully.
In addition to the four mentioned above, normally reliable Town performers
contrived to play 'quiet' matches. Against a tall, athletic and physically robust
visiting team, this just wasn't good enough. The game reminded me of a meaningless
Sunday League encounter played after a good p*ss-up the night before. No urgency,
no enthusiasm, players wandering about as if in a trance.
Luton were clearly
the better team, and with half decent finishing, would have scored five or six. However,
a combination of pathetic finishing and utterly brilliant goalkeeping from Super Stevie
kept the scores level. And 10 minutes from time, lightning struck, when Edwards flicked
the ball over his head with a nice touch, then blasted home. We may have been unluck
not to get a point last week at Derby, but we more than made up for it this week.
Both wide players did well, Steve Francis was super, but the rest varied from poor
to crap. I bet Rob Edwards is regretting leaving Crewe after that pile of sh*t.
It
was bad enough watching it. Can't be arsed to re-live it any further.