Luton Town FC vs Braintree Town (12th Apr 2014)

Town made to wait for title by Braintree

Town 2** Howells 62 (pen), Wall 65 ** Braintree 3** **Wells 16, Mulley 21, Isaac 56

The Town’s hopes of celebrating a return to the Football League were dashed as 10-man Braintree secured victory at a stunned Kenilworth Road.

With 10,000 Hatters fans inside the ground for the first time 20 years, the Town needed just a victory to be crowned champions but the visitors – themselves chasing promotion – raced into a two-goal lead with two efforts in the space for five first half minutes.

Firstly, on 16 minutes Dean Wells rose highest in the Town penalty area from Daniel Sparkes’ left-wing corner to nod the visitors in front.

And before the Kenilworth Road crowd could get their breath back the Iron doubled their lead when Brett Holman scampered down the left and crossed for James Mulley to nudge a finish beyond Mark Tyler.

Two goals down the Town were handed a lifeline on the half-hour mark when visiting goalkeeper Nik Hamann was sent-off for hauling Paul Benson to the floor after the striker had raced clear and rounded the Iron keeper.

Up until the stopper’s dismissal the Town had not forced a meaningful chance but the Hatters did come close on 36 minutes when Steve McNulty surged up-field, played a one-two with Benson but then fired a well-hit effort narrowly over the crossbar.

Braintree were not sitting back on their lead despite their numerical disadvantage and Fraser Franks and McNulty had to be alert in their own penalty area to thwart the dangerous Jordan Cox on two occasions in as many minutes as half-time approached.

The Town upped the ante as the break loomed, with Matt Robinson close with a first-time volley that substitute keeper Nathan McDonald did well to hang on to.

After a poor first half the Hatters began the second much better, and came within a whisker of reducing the deficit when Benson’s shot from a Robinson cross was deflected onto the crossbar.

The Town were pushing for a way back into the game at one end but their afternoon took a further turn for the worse on 56 minutes when Braintree surged three goals clear when Chez Isaac raced through on goal and finished well past an exposed Tyler.

With work to do, John Still introduced Alex Wall and Pelly Ruddock from the substitutes’ bench on the hour and within two minutes the Town did halve the Braintree lead. Right-back Ryan Peters’ handball presented Jake Howells with the opportunity to bring the Town back into the game, and he kept his nerve to send Hamann the wrong way for his eighth goal of the season.

All of a sudden, and backed by the passionate home faithful, it was all the Town, and four minutes later it was 3-2. Howells raced clear but failed to get control of the ball. He did, though, poke the ball into Wall’s path and the striker lofted a shot over McDonald and into an empty net from the edge of the box.

On 72 minutes the crowd were on their feet again but saw the Hatters strike the woodwork for the second time of the match when Mark Cullen’s low shot bounced off the outside of the post after Wall had bulldozered his way through the Braintree backline.

The Hatters were pushing forward at every opportunity in their desperation for an equaliser. Cameron McGeehan saw a goal-bound shot blocked on 76 minutes but time started to run down as the Town ran out of puff.

Good work between Wall and Ruddock saw the latter fire a shot inches over the crossbar with five minutes left before Scott Griffiths’ ambitious effort also narrowly cleared the bar with a minute left on the clock.

With McNulty now in attack as the Hatters threw the dice, Braintree were threatening on the break but failed to test Tyler despite a number of counter attacks.

At the other end, in six minutes of stoppage time, Wall poleaxed a Braintree defender with a venomous shot but that was the last chance as the Hatters’ dreams of a title celebration were put well on ice by the visitors.

Town: Tyler; Henry, Griffiths, McNulty, Franks; Lawless (sub Rooney 14 (sub Ruddock 60), McGeehan, Robinson (sub Wall 60), Howells; Benson, Cullen. Subs not used: Shaw, Justham.

Attendance: 10,020, including 96 from Braintree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT3iYImr3Qo

http://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/article/gallery-braintree-1204-1484009.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylAki6hPGf4

https://www.flickr.com/photos/liam2010/sets/72157643904785795/

Braintree deny Luton title with dramatic win by James Heneghan

Luton Town’s promotion party was put on hold by an impressive Braintree outfit who stunned an expectant home crowd with a 3-2 victory in a dramatic and incident-packed encounter at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

Knowing victory would be enough to end a five-year stay in the Conference and secure a long-awaited return to the Football League, the Hatters produced a largely disjointed display in front of the 10,000-strong crowd, plus the BT Sport cameras, and will now have to wait another week before they can clinch the title, unless Cambridge United fail to beat Kidderminster in their game in hand on Tuesday evening.

Although Luton began well, the visitors took a shock lead through Dean Wells before James Mulley doubled their advantage to stun the home fans.

Visiting goalkeeper Nick Hamann was then sent off for a professional foul to hand Luton a much-needed lifeline but Chez Isaac seemingly sealed victory with a third goal after the restart.

Town rallied, however, and Jake Howells’ penalty resurrected hope of a sensational comeback before Alex Wall’s volley was greeted by a deafening roar as the crowd sensed a dramatic turnaround.

It wasn’t to be, though, and Braintree held off the fightback to delay Luton’s title celebrations.

The fixture saw the highest number of Hatters fans inside Kenilworth Road for a competitive game for 20 years, making for an electric atmosphere ahead of kick-off.

Manager John Still made two changes from the win over Tamworth in midweek, with Alex Lawless coming in for the injured Andre Gray, while Mark Cullen started in place of Luke Rooney.

In front of an boisterous Kenilworth Road, Luton came flying out of the traps and put pressure on the visitors from the off but Braintree, who are chasing promotion themselves, saw out the first 10 minutes despite being penned back inside their own half.

As Luton continued to press, the breakthrough arrived but it was Braintree who took a shock lead when slack defending from a Daniel Sparkes corner allowed Dean Wells to power a free header past the helpless Mark Tyler.

That goal seemed to disrupt Luton’s rhythm as they struggled to regain their early momentum, and their troubles deepened on 21 minutes when an uncharacteristic mistake from Steve McNulty allowed Dan Holman to get away down the right before the winger squared across goal for James Mulley to poke beyond Tyler and give Town a mountain to climb.

A stunned Kenilworth Road looked to stir Luton into a comeback but the home side struggled find any fluency against the well-organised visitors.

But they were then given an almighty boost when an error in judgement from Nick Hamann allowed Paul Benson to get through on goal down before he was pulled down by the goalkeeper, who was shown a straight red card.

The resulting free-kick came to little but the red card had transformed the mood around Kneilworth Road as the home fans sensed the chance of a dramatic comeback.

Town’s best chance of the opening period came 10 minutes from half-time when McNulty strode forward, played a one-two with Benson before firing well over.

Luton continued to probe away without much luck, although they did have their first shot on target through Matt Robinson’s well-struck volley on the stroke of half time, but substitute ‘keeper Nathan McDonald saved comfortably and Braintree withstood the pressure to see out their two-goal lead until half-time.

The Hatters came out all guns blazing in the second half, desperately searching for a way back into the game, and they were agonisingly close to halving the deficit when Robinon’s cross was deflected onto the bar by a defender.

As Luton piled on the pressure, they were caught out at the other end as Braintree grabbed a third when Jordan Cox slipped the ball through to Chez Isaac, who coolly slotted past Tyler.

Town never gave up hope, however, and they were handed a lifeline on the hour-mark when Ryan Peters handled in the penalty area and Jake Howells smashed home the resulting penalty.

Within minutes, Luton closed the gap to just one as substitute Alex Wall smashed a superb volley, aided by a deflection, over the flying McDonald to bring the home crowd to life as, out of nowhere, a memorable comeback was on the cards.

A rejuvenated Luton poured forward as the game entered the final 20 minutes, and they were inches away from levelling when Mark Cullen, in space and with time in the penalty area, dragged a shot onto the outside of the post.

Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu and Scott Griffiths also had efforts in frenetic final 10 minutes, but Luton were unable to find another goal despite the six minutes off added time as the visitors held on to clinch a dramatic victory.

Luton: Mark Tyler, Ronnie Henry (c), Fraser Franks, Steve McNulty, Scot Griffiths, Alex Lawless (Luke Rooney 14) (Alex Wall 60), Cameron McGeehan, Matt Robinson (Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu 60), Jake Howells, Mark Cullen, Paul Benson.

Subs not used: Jon Shaw, Elliot Justham.

Braintree: Nick Hamann, Ryan Peters, Sam Habergham, Chez Isaac (Josh Laurent 77), Matt Paine, Dan Holman (Nathan Donald 31), Daniel Sparkes, Alan Massey, Dean Wells, Jordan Cox (Alex Jakubiak 83), James Mulley.

Subs not used: Luke Daley, Newman Carney.

Referee: L Swabey Assistans: A Howson and N Hopton

Attendance: 10,020

Star Hatter: Matt Robinson