Victory over our Football League visitors Northampton Town put us in the hat for the second round on Saturday. We now know that Cheltenham Town will be the visitors, and we should be ready to give them a game at Kenilworth Road.
OK, the match against Northampton was not exactly inspiring in the first half, but at least we had the laughable Andy D'Urso in the middle doing what he does best - screwing Luton Town, and that gave us something to focus on while the ball was to-ing and fro-ing, as both sides struggled to maintain possession. At least the Cobblers played the game and were not throwing themselves on the floor and time wasting.
The second half was much more entertaining and with a little more composure at the sharp end and a little more support from D'Urso I think we would have put the game to bed much more easily and could have won it 3 or 4 - nil. That of course is notwithstanding Northampton's inability to convert at least 2 golden opportunities to have scored themselves.
I don't want to harp on about referees every week, and as an ex-referee myself, I can often see a referee's thinking when decisions are contentious. In these cases the decision-making is purely a matter of opinion. These are the kind of decisions that balance out over a season, but it is total ineptitude, or lack of bottle, or an apparent shall we say 'lack of sympathy' for a particular club, which makes me seethe. I think Mr Davies against Fleetwood Town definitely fell in the first and second category whereas the likes of Mr D'Urso and Mr Kettle are concerned, it happens time and again, so let us say, ' the jury is out!'
I am beginning to wonder if referees have got fed up of awarding penalty kicks which we then fail to convert so have decided not to bother 'wasting' those big decisions on us! Hmmmmm?
So finally Luton overcame the lack of 'rub of the green', and stormed the Cobblers' goal and although the Hatters deserved victory, it was beginning to look like we would not get the important goal. Enter Adam Supersub Watkins. He came on and immediately changed the course of the match. He was very soon involved and looked yet again a real prospect. He latched on to a loose ball on the edge of the area and buried it in the bottom corner and it was a right kick in the Cobblers'.......confidence. The lad is a very useful player with skill strength and pace, but he has the gift that you cannot teach, train or develop... the knack. Even when he finds himself in a position that is not necessarily a logical one for involvement, the ball finds him and he scores out of seemingly nothing. That is a very good attribute to have and many a player has made a top flight career out of 'the knack'. Adam happens to have the knack and the other attributes mentioned earlier, so let us hope he can go through the leagues with us, and not outgrow us and have to move on up the ladder alone. I'm beginning to get a little thin on patience with Gary Brabin regarding Adam. I know there is a danger of burn-out for very young players if they are over played and lack physique, and it takes a while for many teenage players to develop that physical strength, but Adam is now 20 years old and has the physical and mental strength to be involved more often than he is. To quote a man who knew a 'little bit' about the game, Sir Matthew Busby, "If they are good enough - they are old enough", I think it's time to say that Adam is now both!
So we are drawn at home against Cheltenham Town, currently third in League two and fresh from dumping League one Tranmere Rovers out of the Cup. They will come here full of expectation and will be a very difficult team to beat, but we will give them a game and another shock result is not impossible.
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