Scotty's View: A round-up

Due to a problem with my telephone line I have been unable to access the internet for over two weeks. Living 6 Km from the nearest sub station the fault could not be traced quickly across such a distance. That's the down side of living in the wilds!All is now well so here is a round-up of recent events and my view on the season so far.

At half time at Ebbsfleet it seems that that the threatened and long awaited click took place and over the course of 450 minutes of football Luton scored 26 goals without an opponent replying, which is an amazing feat by anyone's standards. Six goals in the second half at Ebbsfleet, followed by an 8-0 defeat of Hayes & Yeading, 4-0 at home to Salisbury and the long awaited revenge clash with Stevenage resulting in a 1-0 victory. Another 6 goals against Grays and then a 1-0 lead over Tamworth by half time. The bubble had to burst eventually and Des Lyttle who has always played well and scored against us equalised and despite dominating play the winner could not be found and the winning run was ended at 9. Another 6 smashed past Histon but a gung ho performance saw the defence stretched and 3 conceded, but after that match Luton have been undefeated in 12 games since losing two on the bounce at the end of February.

Unfortunately, this fine explosion in form came a couple of games too late, and after another scraped 1-0 victory by Stevenage on Wednesday, it leaves the Hatters needing to win their last two and for Stevenage to lose 2 and draw the other of their three remaining fixtures which is a long shot to say the least given their recent run!I've long hoped for Stevenage to get into th Football League but each year they have flattered to deceive and self destructed just before the winning post. How ironic that they finally do it at the expense of my beloved Luton Town!

Despite Luton delivering some great football and results throughout March and April still the some of the fickle fans of Luton Town are not happy and are still having their moan. It is difficult to imagine a better run, and right now I believe that we are at last the best team in the League and hopefully we are peaking at the right time for a successful play-off campaign.

In fairness, one has to hand it to Stevenage Borough. they have been the most consistent team over the course of the season and Luton Town, with the best players, did not gel as a consistent unit until the final jigsaw pieces were in place. Simon Heslop has made a big difference to the side and Richard Money has finally instilled a bit of confidence in the team, and got them playing the game how he wants them to.It is sad in some ways that it has been at the expense of a few stalwarts but Money had the guts to drop players who thought they had a divine right to play, and he has certainly sorted out his preferred 11 and they have done the business for him.

When Oxford were flying high and about 16 points clear of us at one time, it looked unlikely that we would get close to them let alone overtake them, but we did. We do, however, have to look at 1-0 home defeats by Kettering, Rushden, Stevenage and Wimbledon, in games where we were the better side but failed to score from myriad opportunities, and then got caught on the break, as the significant blips along the way, (coupled with an unforgivably poor effort at home to Ebbsfleet)which proved to be the difference between challenging and pressurising at the beginning of March and doing so when it was too late. Overcommitment to attack in those games proved costly as had they even settled for 0-0 in any of the four 1-0 defeats mentioned, there would still be some hope left, and it would have been in our own hands. However, it is what it is, it is Stevenage's title to lose and unless they implode, it will be the play-offs for the Hatters.

Despite their current excellent form, winning the play-offs will be no formality. There are quality teams in there with us, who have shown that they have the nous to frustrate our playing style.

We could not beat York City with both games ending in draws, Oxford beat us on their ground and all but beat us on ours, but for a miraculous turn around at the death. Rushden frustrated us and then nicked a winner at the Kenny too, so all of the teams in the play-offs are capable of winning the coveted place back in the Football League.

We are the extra man and we are all going to be needed to get behind the team and drive them to success. There will be no room for boos and cat calls.

As Richard Money said just prior to this amazing run: We need to get a run together and if it is to be the play-offs, go into them as the form team and I believe that has been achieved more successfully than I had dared dream.

Let's keep the faith and be that 12th man!

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