QPR v Luton

It seems that no game between Luton and QPR can ever take place without controversy and this one was in the same mould!

A refereeing performance which was somewhat variable in its quality seemed to have erred on the benefit side to QPR and Luton were very unlucky not to have won.

Despite taking the game to the home side, Luton looked frail in the defence of set pieces and just as they did at Kenilworth Road, QPR punished that deficiency.

After 32 minutes, possibly the biggest player on the pitch, Dexter Blackstock, managed to hide in Luton's penalty area under his cloak of invisibility, while Cook took a corner kick, then emerged as the ball arrived to head it into the net with the town defence looking at each other with 'where the hell did he come from?' eyes. Guess what? He was there all the time!

Luton did what Luton do when they go a goal down, and kept possession and built up gradually again, and in a concerted effort leading up to half time might have scored on a couple of occasions, before Vine eventually did, when the hard working Feeney and Langley linked to find Brko and he set up Vine, who hit the ball sweetly into the net.

Immediately after half time, Luton scored again, when Warren Feeney took advantage of a slip by Royce to poach his first goal of 2007, on January 6th. He will be pleased to have beaten his 2006 record of scoring his first goal on December 29th!

To be fair, QPR did not trouble the Town too much once they had gone 2-1 up other than from set pieces.

In the 76th minute a goalmouth scramble saw Beresford make two saves from close in, and then as he rolled on his back he came up again to flick the ball in the air with his hands. As one of a few Town players on the goal line went to hoof the ball clear, Baidoo clearly punched the ball from waist high into the net.

With all eleven Luton players protesting, the referee, Mr Bates, knew he had made a rick and went to his assistant, to try to get out of trouble. Unfortunately, the assistant did not bale him out, so he was stuck with his original decision to allow the goal.

It was scant reward for a good performance from the Town, and once the equaliser was given, QPR went all out to win the game, and Luton had to soak up some serious pressure towards the end.

On the plus side, Barnett showed he can also play right back, having already so far in his career played in all the back four positions, striker and midfield. Rumour has it that, if he can avoid selling him before next game, Newell will play him in goal to make the full set.

Also, Richard Langley had his best game for Luton, and showed why Newell signed him. Unfortunately for Langley, now that we have seen it once we'll expect it every game.

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