Bury vs Luton Town FC (3rd Mar 2015)

Town fall to defeat at Gigg Lane

The Hatters fell to their third defeat in four League 2 matches with a narrow loss at Bury.

Tom Soares’ ninth-minute header proved to be the difference but the Town were unlucky not to pick up a point with home goalkeeper Nick Pope twice denying goal-bound shots from Luke Guttridge and injury time header from Cameron McGeehan.

With Stephen McNulty the one change to the side that beat Accrington, the skipper and his team-mates were under pressure from the first whistle and the home side came close in the third minute when Kelvin Etuhu headed wide.

Two minutes later the Shakers, who came into the game unbeaten in five matches, saw Nicky Adams’ shot from close range ruled out for offside after Elliot Justham had parried Danny Mayor’s shot.

However the Town were not so lucky on nine minutes when the home side took the lead. Chris Hussey flew down the left flank to deliver a peach of a cross to the back post where Soares was on hand to direct a firm header beyond Justham.

Shell-shocked, the Hatters were unable to contain the confident hosts and the home side thought they should have had a penalty when Soares went down under a challenge from Harriman in the box on 12 minutes but referee Duncan remained unconvinced.

The Hatters then had Harriman to thank four minutes later when he cleared Nathan Cameron’s goal-bound header off the line with Justham beaten.

Bury continued to dominate with the Town unable to create any clear-cut chances on the break, but on 31 minutes Elliot Lee was bundled to the floor in the penalty area when challenging for a high ball but nothing was given.

Slowly but surely the Hatters worked themselves into the game and McGeehan wasn’t far away from meeting Jake Howells’ centre on 34 minutes. But from that clearance the Shakers countered and Mayor shot over the bar.

Five minutes before the break, as the Town continued to edge their way into proceedings, Lee was again protesting for a penalty after being brought down but Bury broke away again and, again, Mayor was off target.

But a minute before the interval the Hatters came mighty, mighty close to levelling when home goalkeeper Pope somehow turned Guttridge’s deflected shot from the edge of the box around the post for a corner. Luke Wilkinson crashed a header over the crossbar from Howells’ resultant corner.

Town boss John Still made two changes at the break, introducing Alex Lawless and Nathan Oduwa for Lee and Howells.

Bury’s intensity, like it was in the first half, had dropped at the start of the second, and Guttridge fired over a free-kick from distance as the Hatters looked for an early goal in the second half.

On the hour the Town made their third and final change of the night with Mark Cullen replacing Jayden Stockley.

Three minutes after that swap McGeehan shot well wide of the target from distance as the Hatters’ efforts of finding an equaliser continued.

Bury’s threat going forward was limited but substitute Ryan Lowe wasn’t far away with a shot on the turn on 69 minutes but four minutes later Guttridge was denied a fantastic chance for an equaliser when Pope saved another shot from the midfielder. Lawless was the creator, bombing down the right to cross, but after Oduwa and Cullen were unable to latch onto the ball, it fell to Guttridge on his left foot but Pope stuck out a leg to divert the ball to safety.

As time ticked down the Town continued to huff and puff in search of an equaliser but Justham needed to be alert with six minutes left on the clock to keep out a Cameron shot with his foot at his near post.

However, despite three minutes of injury time, the Hatters could not find a late leveller with McGeehan’s last-gasp header clawed away by Pope with the last action, and Bury celebrated a victory to pull them level on points with the Town in League 2.

Remember we’re back in action at Kenilworth Road on Saturday when Morecambe are the visitors. BE THERE.

TOWN: Justham, Harriman, Griffiths, McNulty, Wilkinson, Smith, McGeehan, Howells (sub Lawles 46), Guttridge, Stockley (sub Cullen 59), Lee (sub Oduwa 46).

Subs not used: Franks, Drury, Whalley, King.

Attendance: 2,915 with 328 shouting for the Town.

http://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/article/highlights-bury-1-0-luton-town-2313455.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsN9hrRsC0c

League Two: Bury 1 Luton Town 0

Luton Town’s worrying away form continued as they were beaten 1-0 at fellow promotion-chasers Bury last night.

It was a third successive defeat on their travels for John Still’s men and they have now triumphed just once in 12 matches away from the sanctuary of Kenilworth Road.

Despite the visitors’ poor showing, the Shakers had keeper Nick Pope to thank for three fine saves as he prevented Luke Guttridge magnificently on two occasions, and also stopped Cameron McGeehan’s injury time header from creeping in.

Results elsewhere saw John Still’s side remain in fourth place, although they now trail the top three by five points ahead of Saturday’s visit from Morecambe.

Hatters made one change as skipper Steve McNulty expectedly came back into the side for Fraser Franks who dropped to the bench, while keeper Elliot Justham continued in the absence of Mark Tyler.

In what was soon to become a theme during the first half, the Shakers threatened from the wide areas, with Chris Hussey’s corner glanced off target by Kelvin Etuhu, while Bury did have the ball in the net when Justham parried Danny Mayor’s shot and Nicky Adams tapped home only to be flagged offside.

The hosts were deservedly ahead on nine minutes with a goal of sheer simplicity as Hussey had all the time to dink over a cross and Tom Soares climbed above Scott Griffiths to head home.

Bury continued to cause havoc on the flanks, particularly through Hussey, and almost had a second on 18 minutes when Michael Harriman kicked Nathan Cameron’s header off the line.

Andrew Tutte saw his free kick brush the side-netting as Luton struggled to create a single attempt of note in the opening half hour, bar strangled penalty appeals when Elliot Lee went down in the box.

The on-loan forward saw another burst brought to an end as he was sent tumbling to the ground, with official Scott Duncan unmoved once more.

However, Bury broke away again and a deep cross was put over the top by Mayor as their pass and move approach was far easier on the eye than anything Town could muster.

Hatters almost had a barely deserved equaliser out of nothing though when Guttridge’s instinctive left footed curler flicked off a defender but the already airborne Pope somehow managed to stick out a hand and flick it behind.

A far from happy Still made two alterations at the break as Alex Lawless and Nathan Oduwa came on for Howells and Lee.

Guttridge sent a hopeful free kick into the stands, while Luton made their last swap on the hour mark with leading scorer Mark Cullen replacing Jayden Stockley.

The change in personnel saw Town improve slightly but they were still restricted to efforts from range, Cameron McGeehan drilling wide.

Bury always looked the likelier though, sub Ryan Lowe inches past the post moments after coming on.

Hatters had a marvellous opportunity to level on 70 minutes when Lawless’ cross was somehow missed by Oduwa from just six yards out, as Guttridge reached the loose ball, although he was denied by Pope’s legs.

Justham also blocked from Cameron, before Luton almost stole a draw when Cullen flicked on and McGeehan nodded goalwards, only for Pope to save the day once more.

Bury: Nick Pope, Andrew Tutte (Chris Sedgwick 82), Adam El-Abd, Kelvin Etuhu, Nicky Adams (Craig Jones 78), Danny Mayor, Chris Hussey, Danny Nardiello (Ryan Lowe 66), Tom Soares, Joe Riley, Nathan Cameron (C).

Subs not used: Jimmy McNulty, Danny Rose, Kiel O’Brien, Rob Lainton.

Hatters: Elliot Justham, Michael Harriman, Scott Griffiths, Steve McNulty (C), Luke Wilkinson, Jonathan Smith, Cameron McGeehan, Jake Howells (Alex Lawless 46), Luke Guttridge, Elliot Lee (Nathan Oduwa 46), Jayden Stockley (Mark Cullen 59).

Subs not used: Andy Drury, Fraser Franks, Shaun Whalley, Craig King.

Referee: Scott Duncan.

Booked: Cullen 73, Lowe 90.

Attendance: 2,915 (Luton 328).

Hatters MOM: Alex Lawless - finally added some inventiveness to Town’s display when he came on.

Still blames poor first half for Shakers defeat

Hatters boss John Still felt his side paid the price for a poor first half performance against Bury on Tuesday night.

The visitors were behind early on as Tom Soares’ header broke the deadlock, and could have should have been out of sight by the interval with Hatters barely getting out of their half at times.

Still said: “The first half was not good enough, nowhere near good enough. We never won individual battles, we didn’t play with any tempo, and fortunate I think to be 1-0 down.

“Second half, I thought we had equal share, the better chances and their keeper’s made two very, very good saves.

“But overall, for 90 minutes, not a performance I think that was good enough to win the game.

“We were two slow in the first half, whole situation was too slow, so we never really got into a position to mount our attacks as I lost count of the amount of times we’ve gone to clear a ball and been shut down.

“Second half was much better but you can’t play a game when you’re 1-0 down.”

Town skipper Steve McNulty was of the same opinion as his manager, but couldn’t put a finger on why Town were so slow out of the blocks.

He said: “We didn’t start too well in the first half. They got a foothold in the game for the first 25 minutes, half an hour and then we came into it a little bit more for the last part of the first half.

“I don’t think it’s anything to do with not trying or anything like that, sometimes things just don’t go for you and clearances are dropping to them.

“I thought we dominated the second half, their keeper has made two or three really good saves, so we’re disappointed not to get a point to be honest.

“They’re the home team and always going to put us under pressure. We’re more disappointed than anyone with our performance in the first half but well come back strong.”

It’s the fourth game running where Hatters have been off colour in the first period according to the boss and he will take steps to see exactly why that’s been a recurring theme.

Still added: “We haven’t performed in the first half and the funny thing is we didn’t perform in the first half at Wimbledon, we didn’t perform in the first half away to Mansfield.

“So what I’m going to do is I’m going to re-evaluate those games, see what we did, see how we did it, see if there was something we should have done that we didn’t do, or something I should have done that I didn’t do and when I do that, I might come up with an answer.

“Ill look at it, watch all the games on the DVD before we get back to training on Thursday and that might tell me a little bit of a story.

“If it does, we will be able to get take another step forward.”