Luton 3-3 Rochdale

In a classic game of two halves Luton stunned their high flying visitors with some excellent attacking football and solidity in defence ands with the midfield showing grit and determination. The Hatters fans were already granting the status of saviour to Richard money as they drank their half time libations, but unfortunately, normal service was resumed after the break as the Hatters found Rochdale a much improved side and the boot was most certainly firmly on the other foot.

The forgotten signing, Steve Basham, who had hardly had a look in since the close season, was given a first starting role as Tom Craddock was dropped to the bench. This proved to be a master stroke, because the former Exeter man, who had not shown much promise in his few previous outings in a Town shirt, suddenly showed that he has the nous to drop into dangerous positions and if his team mates find him he has an eye for goal.

In all Money made 6 - yes count them - six changes from the side that lost 2-0 to Rushden and Diamonds and they looked up for showing the new boss what they can do. There was no place in the squad for Kevin Nicholls who had a niggle from training and Tyler, originally scheduled to be in goal, hurt his back in the warm up and had to be replaced by Gore.

In the 4th minute Burgess won the ball in midfield and struck a perfect pass to Gallen who ran on to it and whipped it back to Newton to cross right on to Basham's head and 1-0 for the Hatters.

Three minutes later Freddie Murray was tripped in the area and should have got a penalty kick but, because of the semi-theatrical way he went down, only got a yellow card for 'diving', so it is not only the Conference refs who are sponsored by Specsavers.

Kennedy showed that Rochdale could be a dangerous side going forward on a few occasions, none more so than when his speculative drive from outside the area caused real concern to Gore in the Hatters goal, but he hung on to it very well.

Rundle got forward after Dagnell had ghosted past Pilks and crossed but with Gore stranded the ball found its way past the outside of a post.

Rochdale were well in the game and despite some great football by the Town, the visitors' defence had been equal to it since the goal.

A deflected free kick was going into the Luton goal before White cleared it and then within minutes Luton struck again.

Once again Burgess started the move winning the ball in midfield and finding Newton with a lovely pass. As Newton shaped to cross it the Dale keeper inexplicably came off his line at some speed and Newton lobbed a dipping volley over him into the empty net in a moment of real quality.

Rochdale's heads most certainly dropped and Luton played them off the park for the next ten minutes at the end of which Claude Gnakpa went on one of his missions taking on anyone who came at him, beating two and crossing. The ball bobbled around and fell back to Basham who slotted home for an 'unassailable' 3-0 lead.

Luton realy enjoyed the remainder of the half and might have had another when White headed over from a corner, but 3-0 at half time must surely have been game over.

However, this is Luton Town and nothing is ever straightforward, is it?

What turned out to be a very significant change at half time was when Keane was replaced by Howells and the whole pack was reshuffled and the Town struggled to regain their shape. Keane's steel in midfield was lost, and that coupled with the rocket that Rochdale must have received from their manager saw a much different second half unfold.

However, Pilkington came so close to making it 4-0 early in the half from a corner when his header went agonisingly wide before Rochdale reduced the arrears with a lucky deflection of a header by McArdle. The ball ricocheted twice before Dawson got a toe to it to make it 3-1.

Luton did rally from the setback and defended well but on 65 minutes Shane Gore made two outstanding saves in quick succession one with his legs from Kennedy and as the ball fell kindly to Buckley, Gore regained his feet quickly to save his firm drive.

Basham was suffering from the pace and also seemed to have had a slight knock and he was replaced by Tom Craddock 15 minutes from the end as Luton still looked well capable of seeing the game out.

By this time Rochdale were going all out to get something from the match and Luton's right side of defence underwent an extreme examination by Kennedy and as the ball was flighted in on several occasions only to see the beleaguered Hatters defence clear or Rochdale's forward line spurn their chances, it was looking good for the home side. However, with three minutes remaining a Kennedy cross found Thompson unmarked and he wasted no time in crashing it past Gore for 2-3.

A neat 1-2 between Craddock and Gallen saw the former in a 1 on 1 with the keeper but Tom's decent shot was brilliantly saved by Arthur before the game went into time added.

Jones went down the Rochdale left and looked suspiciously offside before reaching the ball and crossing for Thompson to head in at the far post for 3-3. All the Hatters' good work of the first half had been undone.

There was still time for another great save by Arthur from Gallen before the referee brought the game to an end.

To be fair to the Town lads, they punched well above their weight in the first half and probably should have been able to have defended such a good lead, but Rochdale must be applauded for their continued effort in the second half and they probably did enough to deserve the draw. However the most worrying thing to me was the fact that the new manager did not see the necessity of bringing on some fresh legs at right back in Ed Asafu-Adjaye, when Gnakpa was so clearly out of his depth from tiredness, which may have been the difference between conceding a draw and hanging on for a victory.

The replay was scheduled for Tuesday week but the match has been brought forward to be live on ITV4 on the coming Wednesday.

Considering the importance of promotion this season a long run in the FA cup may not have been beneficial to that end so perhaps a replay on TV will bring in much needed revenue and then if the worst comes to the worst and they are knocked out they can get on with more pressing matters... improved performances in the BSP!

Luton Town: Gore; Pilkington, White, Blackett, Murray; Gnakpa, Keane (Howells '46'), Burgess, Newton; Basham (Craddock '75'), Gallen.

Subs not used: Asafu-Adjaye, Reynolds, Hall, Jarvis, Charles.