Boro V Luton Town 1-0 (Akpom)

[marvin 55]

The Boro v The Hatters 16th December 2020

Kick Off: 19.00

Location: Fortress Riverside

"A repeat of the final game at Awesome Park"

Wednesday evening sees Middlesbrough host hat obsessed Luton Town at the Cellnet Riverside Stadium. The teams meet on the back of 3-0 victories with Middlesbrough having dispatched the Lions of Millwall, racing to victory with a trio of goals scored in the fastest time since netting 3 in 16 minutes against Bolton Wanderers in 1965. The Boro went on to win 5-2 that day. Saturday's game saw us swiftly tame and then toy with the Lions throughout the game. Watmore's goals sandwiching Tavernier's wonder strike ensured that Middlesbrough maintained a home record bettered only by Watford so far this season.

The Hatters defeated lily-white Preston North End courtesy of a James Collins hat-trick leaving them 11th place, one point and two places below Middlesbrough. That victory gave manager Nathan Jones his 100th win in 200 games as boss of the Hatters.

Last time we hosted the Hatters, they beat us 1-0. But this was pre Covid-19 ruining the world and during Jonathan Woodgate doing his best impression of someone trying to ruin our football club. That day Woodgate commented that he was "...really disappointed about the players not finding more quality on the pitch." The OneBoro board erupted with comments referring to Woodgate's lack of a clue, team selections and poor performances all round. DZ provided the match day thread and littered the OP with billions of gifs, bemoaning the panicked state we found ourselves in.

Fans of Luton Town FC don't seem to be blessed with the same quality of forum that we Smoggies do. http://lutonexcelsior.com was the best I could find. They too seem to have a striker that doesn't give enough bang for the buck. They even argued and insulted each other after James Collins' 3 goals in one game at the weekend took his tally to 9 for the season so far. That seems like a lot to me! I bet a fit Ashley Flectcher would have scored more by now though. And Watmore will probably be on more than 9 in a few games if he keeps up his Ginger Juninho game and banging them in. 

The previous time Luton were visitors to the Boro were happier, more optimistic days and I was there. Bryan Robson's Boro treated us to a 2-1 victory in April 1995 in what was the last league game at Ayresome Park before a move to our current home. That day, John Hendrie netted his 14th and 15th goals of the season and there was precisely 23,903 more fans in the stadium than there will be on Wednesday night, despite the fact we now have a massive stadium. I'm blaming Neil Warnock's terrible football style.

FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS:

Ben Roberts, best remembered for conceding the quickest goal in FA Cup final history (I was there too,) had two spells on loan at Luton in '99 and '00. Roberts retired from football at the tender age of 29 after persistent back problems. After football, he went to university and gained a sports science and coaching degree, winning the Adidas Pursuit of Excellence award for his dissertation  entitled 'A Biomechanical Analysis of a Football Goalkeeper's Jumping Technique'.

TALKING POINTS:

Is there a dafter badge than Luton's?

How quickly will we score three goals this time?

If Ashley Fletcher played alongside The Ginger Juninho upfront every game, would we win the league easily?

Shall we keep the same winning team or play Roberts?

 

 

 

 

 

[Robin Johnson 139]

For us older fans, one obvious connection who played for both clubs - “ Give us a goal” John Orourke. Great striker.

[Changing Times 3,135]

I think Marlon Beresford played for both as well.  Another goalie.

[DanFromDownSouth 1,044]

A bit more recent, but Martin Cranie too. Although his time with us was pretty fleeting.

[TLF10 1,033]

I know we had many low points last season but Luton at home was a real low. A truly pathetic performance by our lot given what was at stake at the time.

Luton look a solid championship this season but hoping we got enough at home to beat.

i would go with:

bettinelli

Dijk Fry Paddy

Tav Morsy Sav Marv

Roberts

Watmore Britt

i really hope we can press them high up so so my line up is a bit attack minded but hoping with 3 at back and Morsy shielding we should be ok.

I fancy Britt to score if he starts. I also think its an ideal game for Roberts to start in hole.

[sanddancer 585]

Well after my last prediction of not knowing, I must predict the same in hope of a repeat. 
 

[wilsoncgp 2,759]

Come on @TheJew, I'm waiting to post your favourite GIF.

[TeaCider24 1,576]

They're a funny team, Luton.

You'd expect them to be struggling, and they looked doomed when Nathan Jones rejoined, but they've punched well above their weight since then.

We should be winning, but I'd not be shocked if they beat us.

[Erimus 63 149]

2 hours ago, Robin Johnson said:

For us older fans, one obvious connection who played for both clubs - “ Give us a goal” John Orourke. Great striker.

 

It was a pity that John O'Rourke was ever allowed to leave as I think we'd have been promoted with Stan Anderson long before 1973/74 and the arrival of big Jack. He could've ended up as one of Boro's all time top  goal scorers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[boro-unger 1,066]

Well, seen as how Luton beat Preston 3-0, and Preston beat us 3-0. Yhe hatters should really be putting 6 past us...

Hoping for a continuation of the attacking mentality from the Miwaw game though. Same team and formation for me.

I always though Lincoln had a really daft badge. Like the Gruffalo with his legs crossed

 

[Old Codger 932]

1 hour ago, sanddancer said:

Well after my last prediction of not knowing, I must predict the same in hope of a repeat. 
 

I was going to make a remark about it being nice to see that the match balls were held in a secure environment, but then I thought it might construed as sexist, so I decided not to say it 🙂

[DanFromDownSouth 1,044]

I have a few badges I find strange. But I'll pick one, Watford.

They have a moose head on the badge, yet their nickname is the Hornets. They claim the badge is actually a "Hart" (a male deer) but it looks suspiciously like a moose to me.

[Old Codger 932]

https://www.sporcle.com/games/MonsterLeopard/can-you-name-the-english-football-club-badge

For those that are feeling a little bored..  some really obscure ones 

[TeaCider24 1,576]

I hate Derby's and Swansea's.

Minimalistic modern ***.

[DanFromDownSouth 1,044]

25 minutes ago, Old Codger said:

https://www.sporcle.com/games/MonsterLeopard/can-you-name-the-english-football-club-badge

For those that are feeling a little bored..  some really obscure ones 

I got 90/92. Had to look up Stevenage and Blackpool, so close to the full house. 

Playing with the badges added on FM really helped out! 😂