It was a competitive debut that Luton Town’s Shane Blackett will want to forget, and for his teammates Conference lesson number one – Luton Town must learn to finish teams off.
In a tale of two penalties the hometown boy saw red 12 minutes from time in a hotly disputed decision in which he appeared to win the ball from Dons' Jon Main. The striker converted to take a share of the spoils.
The scoreline was a poor reflection on a first hour of a game that Town dominated. It was just the last 30 minutes that served as a hangover from last term when the worst was always feared and the inevitable always happened.
A Tom Craddock penalty on 15 minutes should have opened the floodgates to get the Hatters off to the perfect Blue Square Premier start. But chances came and went and Luton will now be wondering how they didn’t start the season as they meant to go on.
A sell out Kingsmeadow crowd saw a 50 per cent increase of the turnout for the last league match between the two in the 1991/92 season and a minute’s applause rang loud around South London before the kick-off in memory of the late Sir Bobby Robson and two members of the Wimbledon staff.
As to be expected the first few minutes saw a frenetic opening with tough challenges by way of a welcome to the Blue Square Premier for both teams.
The atmosphere did get the better, or perhaps worst, of one Luton fan who jumped into the Wimbledon stand and, in an unsavoury incident, knocked the head off the Dons Womble mascot before stewards and police intervened to eject him.
The mood quickly turned to joy however four minutes later when Luton were awarded a penalty. Andy Burgess cross looked destined for Blackett until the Dons’ Paul Lorraine climbed all over the defender to concede the spot-kick. Craddock, who had been admonished by manager Mick Harford in the last pre-season match for a chipped penalty that went wrong, had no trouble this time as he buried the ball low and hard past James Pullen.
It settled the nerves and signalled a period of Hatters dominance, most notably for Adam Newton who got the better of left back Chris Hussey time and again to reach the byline. On the quarter hour the winger’s cross found Craddock who surely would have bagged his second with a towering header if it were not for a superb low stop from the Dons keeper.
Any threat at the other end was consistently dealt with by the backline and central midfielder Keith Keane who looked hungry in the tackle, and it took until a minute before the break before the hosts registered their first shot – a rather tame toe-poke that rolled wide.
Before that Kevin Gallen saw a stinging drive on 21 minutes blocked while Asa Hall blazed an effort over the bar from 25 yards.
The Hatters should really have increased their lead by the time the whistle blew for half-time, especially with the acres of space afforded them on the right hand side. Newton had 45 minutes of what amounted to crossing practice, which perhaps would have been greeted with relish from the injured Liam Hatch.
Seven minutes into the second period and Craddock looked odds on to double his and Luton’s tally when he turned Brett Johnson inside the box only to see his shot cleared off the line by Lorraine. The ball found its way to Burgess who fired a shot from the edge of the area just over the angle of the goal.
The Wimbledon defence were allowing the striker so much space that three minutes later Keith Keane was able to pick him out on the 18 yard line with a chipped through-ball from the halfway line. The Teesider sidestepped Garrard and curled a low shot just past the foot of the post.
Just after the hour Luton keeper Mark Tyler was forced into action for the first time as Hussey’s deep cross found Lewis Taylor at the far post. He controlled and blasted goalwards in one fluid movement but the stopper was equal to it with as instinctive block.
From then on Town seemed content to sit on their lead, and whether by design or the fact that the Dons had cut the supply line that had worked so well for them in the first half, but there appeared to be only one team looking to score the game’s second goal.
With 12 minutes to go Dons’ top scorer last season Main raced clear only for Blackett to Take the ball and the man. The referee thought otherwise, pointing to the spot and brandishing a card. And by the time defender had trudged off and reached the tunnel the striker coolly slotted home.
Only a heroic block by Reynolds from Taylor’s shot three minutes from time kept the score level, but after a promising opening Luton will have to learn a hard and fast lesson from this.
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