Luton Town FC vs Shrewsbury Town (8th Jan 2015)

Luton Town 0-0 Shrewsbury Town

The Town were left frustrated as a series of fine saves from Shrewsbury goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler kept the Hatters at bay in a goalless draw in front of the live Sky Sports cameras.

The Hatters hit the post in the first half through Jake Howells before Scott Griffiths and Andy Drury were denied by saves from Leutwiler.

In the second half the Town continued to press, and after the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Nathaniel Knight-Percival was sent-off for a second bookable offence, the Shrews had Leutwiler to thank for keeping out goal-bound efforts from his own defenders and, in the final minute, Shaun Whalley.

The Town huffed and puffed but could not break the deadlock, but despite the stalemate the Hatters did lift themselves up to fourth in the League 2 table.

It all started with the Town showing five changes to the side that lost to Cambridge in the Cup – including a debut for on-loan striker Jayden Stockley – and the Town started well and came mighty close to going ahead on three minutes. Howells, on his 299th appearance for the Hatters, drove a low right-foot shot from the edge of the box that struck the foot of the post and bounced away to safety.

It took new boy Stockley six minutes to show the Town faithful of his ability when taking a right-wing cross from Luke Rooney on his chest before volleying a shot from 20 yards just over the bar.

Stockley overcame a slight knock just after the quarter-hour but was able to continue and on 19 minutes the Town came close to scoring twice with two chances in quick succession. Firstly Griffiths saw a volley kept out well by Shrews goalkeeper Leitwiler – the ball bouncing dangerously through a sea of bodies in the box – before the visiting stopper then clawed Drury’s curling shot.

The Town continued to press the Shrews back, with Mark Tyler’s only real work of the first half to rush out to prevent a corner. But despite their dominance the Hatters could not find a way through the visitors’ defence before referee Adcock signalled for half-time.

The Hatters started well on resumption of the second half, Stockley acrobatically volleying wide after Griffiths had nodded on a Drury corner into the danger area. The Town then thought they should have had a penalty on 51 minutes when the ball struck Shrewsbury’s Cameron Gayle’s hand in the box but nothing was given.

Shrewsbury were offering little going forward and Tyler only had to watch Liam Lawrence drill a free-kick inches wide of the post. But the Town keeper needed to be on his toes on 57 minutes when James Collins’ cross-cum-shot from the left flank almost crept into the top corner until Tyler tipped the ball over the crossbar.

As the Hatters began to get frustrated, Still made his first change of the night, introducing Whalley for Rooney on 64 minutes and, four minutes, later the Town came close to scoring when Michael Harriman’s cross searching out Luke Wilkinson at the back-post was directed away from goal by Leutwiler.

The Town had been narked by a series of decisions by referee Adcock but, with 20 minutes to go, the Hatters were given the opportunity to find a way through against a 10-man Shrewsbury team following Knight-Percival’s sending off. The defender was booked twice for two challenges on Jonathan Smith in the space four minutes and Adcock brandished the red card.

Against 10 men the Hatters went in search of a winner but were left frustrated in the final five minutes by the excellence of Leutwiler. The Shrews’ Swiss stopper reacted smartly to prevent an own goal with three minutes left when he parried away Connor Goldson’s clearance. And with time almost up the Hatters almost won it only for Leutwiler to stick out an arm to deny substitute Shaun Whalley’s low shot at the near post.

The Town poured forward in the final four added minutes but they couldn’t conjure up a winner.

TOWN: Tyler; Harriman, Griffiths (sub Miller 79), McNulty, Wilkinson; Doyle, Smith, Drury, Rooney (sub Whalley 64), Howells, Stockley. Subs not used: Franks, Cullen, Justham, Robinson, Walker.

Attendance: 7,666, including 177 from Shrewsbury.

http://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/article/gallery-town-0-0-shrewsbury-2191166.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HsB4EmI1FU

League Two: Luton Town 0 Shrewsbury Town 0

Luton Town were held to a goalless draw by fellow promotion chasers Shrewsbury Town in front of the Sky cameras at Kenilworth Road this evening.

Try as they might, the Hatters just couldn’t break down the division’s second most miserly team, even when the visitors had to play the last 20 minutes with 10 men after Nathaniel Knight-Percival was dismissed.

Shrews keeper Jayson Leutwiler proved impregnable all evening, particularly after the sending off as he made a sharp stop from team-mate Connor Goldson’s deflection, plus reacting well to deny Town sub Shaun Whalley, as although Luton climbed to fourth, they were left ultimately frustrated.

Hatters had handed new loan signing Jayden Stockley an instant debut after he joined from AFC Bournemouth on Wednesday, with leading scorer Mark Cullen dropped to the bench.

The forward was one of five changes as captain Steve McNulty, Scott Griffiths, Nathan Doyle and Luke Rooney all came back in for Paul Connolly, Jim Stevenson, Fraser Franks and Ricky Miller.

Town went into the game looking to arrest an awful record from televised games as from their previous 11 broadcast live, they had picked up just one win, with three draws and seven defeats.

John Still’s side almost made a superb start as a lovely interchange saw Stockley slip Jake Howells through but his low right footer hit the base of the post, with the rebound just evading Andy Drury.

New addition Stockley gave a sighter of his potential, taking Rooney’s cross on his chest and volleying over the bar from outside the box.

Although Shrewsbury looked to dominate possession, with tricky midfielder Ryan Woods catching the eye, Hatters were creating the better chances as Scott Griffiths’ volley into the ground produced a decent block from Leutwiler.

The rebound was worked to Drury whose curler drew a save for the watching audience around the world by the Shrews stopper, opting to spectacularly palm it behind.

Shrews midfielder James Wesolowski was then allowed to run and run by the home defence and his shot was charged down by McNulty with Mark Tyler gathering.

Luton wrested the initiative back though as Griffiths showed good strength to win the ball from his opponent, teeing up Drury for a shot that was deflected behind.

For all their intricate passing, Shrews’ never once got to see the whites of Tyler’s eyes in the first period, James Collins well wide from distance.

After the break, Stockley continued to show just why Still had been tracking him this season, sending an overhead narrowly off target, as he continued to lead the line manfully.

Liam Lawrence’s fizzer had Tyler worried for a while until it veered behind and the Luton stopper then had to back-pedal swiftly before tipping over Collins’ cross-shot that threatened to drop underneath the bar.

Leutiler then took to the air once more to punch Michael Harriman’s cross away from danger as Town fans were left irate by some dubious calls made by officlal James Adcock, with a deafening cheer as Nathaniel Knight-Percival saw yellow for a foul on Jonathan Smith.

When the Shrews defender repeated the offence moments later, he was shown a second caution and had to depart, leaving his side with 20 minutes still to play.

Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro put his head down and set off on a mazy run only to punt well over as Luton threw on Shaun Whalley and then Miller.

It was Whalley who had the greater impact, sneaking round the back and delivering a low cross that hit Mark Ellis and was inches away from creeping in at the far post.

Whalley was at it again shortly afterwards, as he got to the byline and saw his cross deflect goalwards off Connor Goldson, only for Leutwiler’s reactions saving his defender.

The substitute then went it along, cutting inside and firing low, but there was no way past Leutwiler, and when he displayed exemplary handing to Stockley’s bouncing effort, the spoils were shared.

Hatters: Mark Tyler, Michael Harriman, Scott Griffiths (Ricky Miller 79), Luke Wilkinson, Steve McNulty (C), Nathan Doyle, Jonathan Smith, Andy Drury, Luke Rooney (Shaun Whalley 64), Jake Howells, Jayden Stockley.

Subs not used: Elliot Justham, Fraser Franks, Mark Cullen, Matt Robinson, Charlie Walker.

Shrews: Jayson Leutwiler, Mickey Demetriou, Ryan Woods, Mark Ellis, Connor Goldson, James Collins, Liam Lawrence (C), Cameron Gayle, James Wesolowski, Nathaniel Knight-Percival, Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro (Bobby Grant 89).

Subs not used: Jermaine Grandison, Scott Vernon, Anthony Griffith, Andy Mangan, Mark Halstead, Jordan Clark

Referee: James Adcock.

Booked: Wilkinson 38, Knight-Percival 65, Smith 88.

Sent off: Knight-Percival 69.

Attendance: 7,666 (Shrews 177)

Hatters MOM: Jayden Stockley. Faded as the game wore on, but made a real impression during the first half.

Still felt Whalley could have been the match-winner

Town boss John Still felt that had winger Shaun Whalley been fit enough to start, his side could have been celebrating three points rather than the one picked up against Shrewsbury Town last night.

The wideman had a huge influence when he came on after 64 minutes, sending over two crosses that were almost deflected in by visiting defenders.

Whalley was also denied himself by impressive Shrews keeper Jayson Leutwiler as Still said: “I just felt if we could have started with Shaun, I think we could have done it.

“But the sickness has knocked a lot out of him and when he came on, he gave us exactly what we wanted to get from him.

“Because we’ve had people coming in and doing a bit of training, it was a case of who was fit enough.

“(Luke) Rooney was probably fit enough so we started with him. Saun hasn’t done much, so it was taking a bit of a chance, but he gives us that little bit of extra pace down the side.

“He came on and I think could have turned the game around from 0-0 into a win.”

Still also felt the match had been crying out for another of his injured players, as he continued: “We felt it was an ideal game for Pelly (Ruddock Mpanzu), but he played in the reserves against Bournemouth and we just felt not quite.

“We don’t want to rush him, but it was a tough game and we thought Pelly’s power and strength would be ideal.

“Not having him is a little bit of a blow as him and (Alex) Lawless are people that can make something happen and two players that we miss.”

However, despite their continued absenteeism, Still believed it could be an important point for his side, who are now back up to fourth.

The boss added: “I’m pleased with the performance, I thought we played really well. We’ve had some tough games, with Wycombe, Portsmouth, played Shrewsbury who are going great and we’ve performed well in all those games.

“People can say you haven’t won any, but nor did they. Our performance was a typical Luton performance, everyone’s worked their socks off, we’ve played some good football,

“Are we disappointed to get a point? It might be a good point at the end of the season so we’ll wait and see.”