Luton Town FC vs Wrexham (15th Sep 2012)

Town 0-0 Wrexham

An early-season promotion battle ended in stalemate at Kenilworth Road, as neither the Hatters nor Wrexham could come up with a goal. The point sees the Town stay fifth, two points off Macclesfield at the top of the table.

In a tight match-up between two sides who ended last season in the playoffs, both teams had chances to win but in the end had to share the points, with the hosts especially grateful to goalkeeper Mark Tyler’s fantastic late double save, which made sure of the clean sheet in the game’s dying moments.

John Shaw, returning to the starting line-up after a three game suspension, and Lathaniel Rowe-Turner both went close to scoring in the second half for the Town, with Janos Kovacs also having a couple of good efforts from corners, but ultimately the solid visitors were able to shut out Paul Buckle’s men.

The Town lined up in a positive 4-2-1-3 formation and started the match with attacking intent. With JJ O’Donnell and Alex Lawless shielding the back four, the returning Scott Rendell was able to link up with the dangerous-looking front three of John Shaw, Stuart Fleetwood and Andre Gray. As the Hatters pressed forward in the opening exchanges, O’Donnell tested his range with a left footed free-kick into the wall, before sending a fierce shot just over from 20 yards after seven minutes.

There was a huge let-off for the hosts on 18 minutes, as Adrien Cieslewicz wriggled free of Jake Howells in the box and found himself with only Mark Tyler to beat. The Hatters’ number one managed to get just enough on the Wrexham winger’s effort to give captain Ronnie Henry time to get back and scramble a clearance off the line. The Town survived, but Howells was injured in the process, and had to be replaced by Rowe-Turner.

Kovacs was putting in a dominant display at the back, and almost popped up with a goal at the other end on 24 minutes. O’Donnell sent over a curling back post free kick, but the giant Hungarian couldn’t quite direct his diving header on target.

As the first half progressed, the two strong sides increasingly began to cancel each other out, with neither team able to fashion anything like a goalscoring chance, despite the best endeavours of Hatters’ man of the match Lawless, who was passing the ball around with some style, and Gray, who won a number of corners as he threatened on the right wing.

The second half began with heavy pressure on the Hatters goal, as the visitors began to sense an important away victory. Dragons’ captain Dean Keates fired just wide from twelve yards, the ball breaking free for him after Dean Beckwith executed a well-timed sliding tackle on Danny Wright, and minutes later Kovacs had to welly the ball out for a corner as Johnny Hunt’s miss-hit shot zipped across the six-yard box, Cieslewicz having worried the Town with a tricky run through the middle of the pitch. Rowe-Turner was the next to come to the home side’s rescue, clearing in the six-yard box after Cieslewicz and Neil Ashton combined well on the left wing.

Buckle brought on Dan Walker for Fleetwood in the hope of adding vim to the Town’s attacking display, and the young forward tried to make an early impact on his first appearance of the season as he turned and cut in from the left wing. He was crowded out by Wrexham defenders, and Rowe-Turner’s subsequent right-footed striker flashed high and wide. Shortly afterwards, Kovacs had another back post header from a corner blocked as the hosts belatedly began to get a foothold on the second half.

Walker was impressing on the left wing, and delivered a perfect cross for Shaw on 79 minutes. The big striker, possibly seeing the ball late in a crowded goal mouth, elected to control the ball on his chest rather than head it first time, and Wrexham’s Martin Riley was able to hack clear.

The Town’s best move of the match almost resulted in a goal for Rowe-Turner on 83 minutes, as Walker and fellow substitute Yaser Kasim linked up smartly before releasing Henry on the right wing. The skipper’s low cross carried right through to Rowe-Turner on the far post and the left back connected well with his first-time effort, only for it to be deflected out for a corner.

Wrexham responded with a spell of pressure of their own. Henry had to make an excellent last-ditch tackle on substitute Brett Omerod, before Jay Harris fired a shot just wide from outside the area.

Tyler emerged as Town’s saviour in the dying moments of normal time with a top class double-save, first stretching to tip Omerod’s shot wide before springing to his feet to snuff out Andy Bishop’s effort on the rebound.

The save proved particularly important as the referee blew his whistle shortly afterwards, calling time on a tight match in which neither side could ultimately find a breakthrough.

And so the Town trudged off at full time, applauding the 6,675 fans inside Kenilworth Road, rightly pleased with a clean sheet against one of the league’s best sides, but disappointed not to have found a goal themselves to seal a home win.

A POINT WAS FAIR – BUCKLE

Town boss Paul Buckle had no complaints as his side had to settle for a goalless draw with promotion rivals Wrexham at Kenilworth Road.

Both sides had chances to win but Buckle thought a point apiece was a fair reflection on a hard-fought 90 minutes of action.

“I think in the end its a entertaining game and a fair result,” he told Hatters Player afterwards. “We came up against a good side. The first goal would have been the important one, both teams would have known that, but it didn't come.

“We know where the points were lost, and where they were lost last week, so we've had a chat about that. But I thought there were some outstanding performances today; I thought our two centre halves stuck at it in the face of loads of aerial competition. Kovacs was on the front foot - he didn't let them turn and get at us.

“But there were chances at both ends, and Jon Shaw came back well today, despite not being able to even play a game during his ban, and there was a much-needed clean sheet too, so there were a lot of pluses in there for us today.

“We are desperate to get a regular starting XI, and we tried again today but then we had Jake Howells coming off early with concussion, so it's all hands to the pump in terms of players having to come on. But we're hoping to get a settled team and formation, because if you look at today's opponents, 19 points separated the two clubs just nine games ago and that's a big gap to bridge.

“The only thing we didn't do today was find the back of the net - both teams were guilty of some bad finishing, but there was some good defending for both teams today, and you can see from that that it's two clubs that don't want to be playing at this level and trying their damnedest to get out. I think Wrexham will be happy with a point.

“It's still very early days, but we need to try and get a starting eleven out there on a regular basis, and then that consistency will come. Today's a big step for us against this Wrexham team who were a country mile ahead of us last season. We did ever so well to get past them over two games in the playoffs, but over 46 games we have to try hard to get somewhere near where they were last year, and we're building towards that.”

Blue Square Bet Premier: Luton Town 0 (0) Wrexham 0 (0) www.lutontoday.co.uk

A frenetic encounter low on quality but high on endeavour saw few chances as Town were held to a goalless draw by Wrexham at Kenilworth Road this afternoon, writes Mark Wood.

Town made three changes from the side that went down 3-0 at Alfreton the week before. Strikers Jon Shaw, Scott Rendell and Stuart Fleetwood started following a mixture of suspensions and injuries as Jake Robinson dropped to the bench and Greg Taylor and Adam Watkins missed out entirely.

The visitors almost made the perfect start when Danny Wright threaded through Andy Bishop after just 34 seconds but his weak effort was easy for Mark Tyler.

JJ O’Donnell sent a well-placed free-kick into the wall and Andre Gray bizarrely lashed wide from range as Town’s pressure began to grow.

Good work by Rendell created the opening for O’Donnell to thrash just over while Shaw’s astute through ball released Gray who was just beaten to it by keeper Joslain Mayebi who had raced miles out of his box.

Jay Harris’ fine cross just eluded Adrian Cieslewicz on 14 minutes and, with Luton’s defence stretched, they should have taken the lead three minutes later with a swift break. Cieslewicz skipped past Jake Howells and Tyler’s stop did just enough to take the sting out of his effort as skipper Ronnie Henry raced back to clear off the line.

An injury to Howells then forced the Wales U21 off as he was replaced by Lathaniel Rowe-Turner on 21 minutes.

With neither side stamping their authority on the encounter Town went close midway through the half when O’Donnell’s free-kick was flashed just wide by Janos Kovacs at the far post while Bishop stole a march on Luton’s defence but was just unable to connect with a great ball into the box.

Both sides played out the remainder of a scrappy first half to go in goalless at the break.

The Hatters were given an early warning five minutes into the second half when some desperate defending resulted in the ball breaking to Johnny Hunt but his low curler went just past the far post.

Luton finally got a good ball into the box four minutes later but Rendell’s header from Henry’s delivery was straight at the keeper with referee then blowing up for a foul.

The referee’s whistle was dominating proceedings but he strangely decided only to warn Mayebi after the visiting keeper twice ignored his orders at a free-kick.

Wrexham then twice went close as Hunt’s drive was cleared by Kovacs and Dean Keates smashed a good chance well over before becoming the first man into the book for a blatant foul on Gray.

A second Luton substitution followed when Dan Walker made his first appearance of the season for the ineffective Fleetwood, before a Cieslewicz elbow appeared to leave Henry on the deck but nothing was given by the officials.

Referee C Knowles then took an age to allow Henry to rejoin the fray much to the further ire of the home crowd.

More than once Rowe-Turner was required to make a last-ditch challenge to save the Hatters, while Bishop miskicked at the vital moment on 71 minutes as the Red Dragons bossed the second half.

Speculative efforts from Walker and Rowe-Turner failed to trouble the keeper, while Kovacs headed wide from O’Donnell’s corner on 77 minutes as the games meandered to a draw.

Yaser Kasim came on at the expense of Gray and Town wasted a great chance to snatch the lead on 79 minutes when Shaw strangely chose to try and take Walker’s cross on his chest rather than head goalwards and the visitors were rescued by Neil Ashton’s astute challenge.

Finishing with more purpose Town crafted their best move of the game on 83 minutes but Rowe-Turner’s low drive at the far post was deflected behind for a corner as the Kenilworth Road end mistakenly celebrated a goal.

An open ending to the game saw Bishop’s shot blocked and Harris drag wide as both sides pushed for a winner.

Hanging on at the end Luton needed some desperate defending to keep the Welshmen out as Tyler’s firm hand turned Bishop’s low drive aside before he brilliantly cut out the follow-up cross as the game finished goalless.

Hatters (4-3-3): Mark Tyler, Dean Beckwith, Janos Kovacs, Alex Lawless, Jon Shaw, Scott Rendell, Jake Howells (Lathaniel Rowe-Turner 21), Stuart Fleetwood (Dan Walker 60), JJ O’Donnell, Ronnie Henry (C), Andre Gray (Yaser Kasim 77). Substitutes not used: Jake Robinson, Connor Essam.

Red Dragons (4-3-3): Joslain Mayebi, Stephen Wright, Neil Ashton, Martin Riley, Adrian Cieslewicz (Brett Ormerod 81), Jay Harris, Danny Wright (Robert Ogleby 82), Dean Keates (C), Johnny Hunt, Declan Walker, Andy Bishop. Substitutes not used: Andy Morrell, Glen Little, Chris Westwood.

Bookings: Keates 59.

Referee: C Knowles. Assistant Referees: S Feerick and S Pawley. Fourth Official: D Stobbart.

Attendance: 6,675 (319 Wrexham)

Star Hatter: Alex Lawless. Most composed player on the pitch for the Hatters.

Hatters boss Paul Buckle felt that the goalless draw with Wrexham was most definitely a point gained for his evolving side, writes Mike Simmonds.

Town bounced back from their embarrassing 3-0 defeat at Alfreton the previous weekend to record a first clean sheet of the campaign at Kenilworth Road, as they remained fifth in the Conference table against a side who had won their last four matches.

Buckle said: “I think it’s a point gained this week, I think the points were dropped last week (at Alfreton), we know that.

“I’m certainly not going to grumble about a 0-0 against this team, it would be very wrong of me to say we’re disappointed.

“We go to win the game every week, but that team out there (Wrexham) has been built now for quite a while and they were 19 points ahead of us last year.

“We worked a miracle to beat them in the play-offs and any team that finishes anywhere near them will be in good working order.”

Both sides had chances to win late on as Lathaniel Rowe-Turner’s drive flew into the side-netting while Town goalkeeper Mark Tyler pulled off a fine double save to preserve the point.

Buckle added: “I think we had some unbelievable opportunities in the game, whether it was good defending by them or we wanted an extra touch.

“They had some good chances as well. It’s what you expect, you’re not going to get Wrexham come here and not get a chance on our goal.”