Notts County vs Luton Town FC (12th Sep 2015)

PUBLISHED 17:03 12th September 2015 Hatters sunk by last-gasp County winner

NOTTS COUNTY 3-2 LUTON TOWN

The Hatters’ conceded another last-minute goal as they fell to a fourth defeat this season despite rallying from two goals down to level on a dramatic afternoon at Meadow Lane.

With 20 minutes to play the Town looked down and out after two goals from Notts striker Izale McLeod had given County a 2-0 lead.

But substitute Cameron McGeehan halved the deficit on 71 minutes and five minutes later Jonathan Smith’s stunning low effort completed the comeback to restore parity.

However, for the fourth time this term, the Town were sunk by a late goal when, after Scott Cuthbert was sent-off for bringing down McLeod in injury time, Liam Noble curled home the resultant free-kick to break Hatters hearts and secure all three points for County.

It all began with the Town unchanged from last weekend’s 3-1 win at Cambridge, with McGeehan and Paddy McCourt returning to the squad to take their places on the bench. There was no Elliot Justham either, the goalkeeper suffering an injury in training on Thursday, which meant Craig King was named as a substitute.

An entertaining first 45 minutes started with the Town controlling the opening minutes, with Luke Wilkinson not far away from giving the Hatters the lead when attempting to get on the end of a dangerous corner from Danny Green.

Back came County, Mark Tyler holding McLeod’s shot from the edge of the box before the home striker was then booked for diving in the box on nine minutes when sent to ground by Stephen O’Donnell.

Green then tested home goalkeeper and captain Roy Carroll with a firm free-kick from the left-hand edge of the penalty box following super play from Craig Mackail-Smith to win the foul.

Still the Town pressed. Some neat one-touch football led to a long-range effort from Olly Lee deflected with the Hatters claiming handball.

The game, however, continued to swing from end to end and the Magpies came close to breaking the deadlock on 22 minutes when Graham Burke shot from 25 yards flew over the bar.

County then thought they had the lead on 26 minutes when the home side bundled the ball over the line following a right-wing free-kick only for the effort to be chalked off for a foul on Tyler – much to the Magpies’ frustration.

But the home side were not to be denied six minutes later when, after holding firm against a flurry of Town set-pieces, they took the lead. Burke was the creator, bending in an inch-perfect cross from the left and McLeod did the rest, directing a well-placed header beyond Tyler.

With their tails up, County pressed for a quickfire second, Genaro Snijders sliding a shot inches wide of the target on 40 minutes.

At the other end, Luke Wilkinson nodded a free header well wide from a right-wing corner before the hosts thought they should have had a penalty when Snijders fell to the floor under the slightest nudge from Wilkinson in the penalty area.

Behind at the break the Town fell further behind just three minutes after the restart when McLeod raced through and finished expertly past Tyler with a sublime clipped finish.

The Hatters made a change immediately after County’s second with Ryan Hall replacing Green, but the hosts weren’t far away from making it 3-0 on 52 minutes when Adam Campbell curled a shot from the edge of the box over the bar as the home side threatened to kill of the Town.

John Still then made his second change of the second period on 55 minutes, introducing McGeehan for Luke Guttridge, but the Hatters were struggling to create chances and test Carroll in the County goal.

The hosts missed a decent chance to make it 3-0 shortly after the hour when Campbell ghosted into the Town box but he could only flash a shot high and wide and that miss would almost prove costly for County.

With 19 minutes left on the clock the Town halved the deficit when McGeehan finished a fine move to make it 2-1. Scott Griffiths burst down the left to deliver a low cross into the box that was helped on by Josh McQuoid and Craig Mackail-Smith to McGeehan at the back post and the 20-year-old thumped a finish high into the net for his ninth goal in Luton goals.

Tyler then kept it 2-1 with a fine sprawling save to deny Campbell after the County man had skipped through the Town back-line on 75 minutes.

But a minute later the Hatters hordes were celebrating a second goal as Smith struck to bring the Town level. The Town patiently moved the ball into substitute Hall’s path and he teed up Smith to rifle a low finish beyond the reach of Carroll from 25 yards.

Level, you sensed a Town winner was just around the corner. County were on their feet and the Hatters almost eked out a third goal on 82 minutes when McQuoid and McGeehan both saw shots blocked in a frantic goalmouth melee.

As the game swung from end to end as time ticked down, the Town were relieved to see the flag of the linesman on 86 minutes after the hosts had the ball in the net.

Then the Hatters came close once more, Mackail-Smith millimetres away from putting the Town in front moments later with a low angled effort that zoomed across goal but just past the post.

But then, in the final minute, disaster struck. The Town defence was caught out by a long ball forward, allowing McLeod to race goalwards. His run was ended by Cuthbert who was shown a straight red card. From the resulting free-kick on the edge of the box, Noble stepped up and curled a beauty into the top corner to send the hosts into delirium.

County came close to adding a fourth when Julian Jenner’s shot struck the inside of the post in the fifth added minute but the Town could not find a late, late answer – the points stayed in Nottingham and the Hatters players fell to their feet knowing they had been knocked out by another late sucker punch.

Town: Tyler; O’Donnell, Griffiths, Cuthbert, Wilkinson; Smith, Lee, Guttridge (sub McGeehan 55), Green (sub Hall 51 (sub McNulty 90)), McQuoid, Mackail-Smith.

Subs not used: McCourt, Ruddock, Williams, King.

Attendance: 5,820, including a magnificent 1,689 backing the Hatters.

http://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/article/gallery-notts-county-3-2-town-2683727.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ID4NoWmDc

League Two: Notts County 3 Luton Town 2

Luton Town’s increasingly worrying habit of conceding late goals came back to bite them yet again this afternoon, as they were cruelly defeated in injury time by Notts County.

The visitors looked like they had battled back to earn a point from 2-0 down thanks to goals by Cameron McGeehan and Jonathan Smith.

However, despite looking the stronger side in the closing stages, Town’s defence criminally switched off once more, with Izale McLeod bursting clear only to be bundled over by last man Scott Cuthbert.

The Luton skipper saw red and after Hatters took an age to bring on Steve McNulty for Ryan Hall, it gave Liam Noble all the time in the world to size up his free kick and arrow a superb effort beyond Mark Tyler into the top corner.

It means that in Town’s seven League Two games this season, there has been now already been five stoppage time goals, but annoyingly, four of them entering Luton’s net, making it five points already frittered away.

Manager John Still had named an unchanged side from the 3-1 win at Cambridge last weekend as Town settled the better in the early exchanges, playing some nice one touch football.

It was home striker McLeod who had the first effort of note though, his 20-yard attempt easy enough for Tyler.

Referee Ben Toner made the first of a number of big calls on nine minutes when McLeod broke away and cut inside Stephen O’Donnell, before throwing himself to the ground, with the official deeming it a dive, and brandishing yellow for the County forward.

The decision incensed the home crowd, who continued to barrack Toner throughout, but looked from the sidelines like the correct call.

Craig Mackail-Smith continued where he left off at Cambridge, pestering the visiting defence all afternoon, sprinting on to a long ball forward and drawing a foul from Gill Swerts on the very edge of the box.

The Dutchman picked up a caution and from the set-piece, Danny Green went for goal, forcing veteran Roy Carroll to punch clear, with what was Luton’s only shot on target of the half.

On 26 minutes, the Magpies thought they were ahead when Mackail-Smith gave away a needless free kick deep in his half and from the delivery, Tyler looked to be fouled before the ball was bundled in.

Referee Toner awarded the goal, but the linesman’s flag was raised and despite County celebrating, with the music blaring out, the strike was indeed disallowed.

Ricardo Moniz’s side kept the bit between their teeth though and did break the deadlock on 32 minutes when Hatters couldn’t clear the danger, allowing McLeod to send a perfect downward header beyond Tyler.

Magpies were the attacking force from then on, a whisker away from a second as Genaro Snijders was narrowly wide from 20 yards.

County then made the perfect start to the second period as they broke with real pace after Hatters stopped to admire Olly Lee’s sliding challenge.

The hosts picked up the loose ball and with Scott Griffiths badly failing to cut out the final pass, McLeod went on to show just why County paid six figures for his services, impudently dinking over Tyler.

Boss Still swapped the ineffective Green for Ryan Hall, while Guttridge then hobbled off to be replaced by McGeehan, although Tyler had to be alert to stop Graham Burke making it 3-0 from long range, with Adam Campbell also blazing into the stands.

Luton then gave themselves a lifeline on 71 minutes as Griffiths surged forward on the left, McQuoid and Mackail-Smith combined, as the returning McGeehan turned his shot past Carroll.

Tyler made a vital save to deny Campbell after he had broken into the box, while Town’s 1,600 travelling fans were off their seats again as Hall teed up Smith to drill low into the bottom corner from 25 yards with 14 minutes to go.

With the scores 2-2, County’s defence looking increasingly frail and in danger of capitulating completely, it looked like Luton would go on to secure an unlikely victory, both McQuoid and McGeehan having efforts blocked.

County then saw a second goal disallowed as Graham Burke tapped home at the far post only to see the linesman’s flag once again raised.

Back came Town though, with Mackail-Smith’s angled drive narrowly off target, as time ticked away.

With County looking out on their feet, they summoned one last effort to break Town’s hearts and natch all three points, while it could have ended 4-2 but for the post to deny Julian Jenner’s blast.

Magpies: Roy Carroll (C), Mawouna Amevor (Mike Edwards 85), Haydn Hollis, Genaro Snijders (Julian Jenner 78), Adam Campbell (Liam Noble 84), Graham Burke, Gill Swerts, Jon Stead, Thierry Audel, Stanley Aborah, Izale McLeod.

Subs not used: Scott Loach, Alan Smith, Jimmy Spencer, Curtis Thompson.

Hatters: Mark Tyler, Stephen O’Donnell, Scott Griffiths, Scott Cuthbert (C), Luke Wilkinson, Danny Green (Ryan Hall 51, Steve McNulty 90), Olly Lee, Jonathan Smith, Luke Guttridge (Cameron McGeehan 55), Josh McQuoid, Craig Mackail-Smith.

Subs not used: Elliot Justham, Curtley Williams, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Paddy McCourt.

Referee: Ben Toner

Booked: McLeod 9, Swerts 15, Snijders 28, Green 34, Amevor 44, Burke 88.

Sent off: Cuthbert 90.

Attendance: 5,820 (1,689).

Hatters MOM: Craig Mackail-Smith. Striker ran himself into the ground once more.

Still left baffled by Hatters’ defensive woes

A baffled Hatters manager John Still was at a loss to explain his side’s defending as they once again conceded a last-minute goal to lose 3-2 at Notts County yesterday.

After battling back from 2-0 down, Luton looked to have rescued a point, only for Scott Cuthbert to see red for bringing down Izale McLeod and Liam Noble to crash home the resulting free kick.

Hatters have now shipped 13 goals in just seven league games so far this campaign, including four in stoppage time, as Still admitted he will take a long look the make-up of his back four now.

The Luton chief said: “We’re giving too many goals away and too many long balls are beating us, balls down the middle.

“Scott Cuthbert has done really well, Wilko (Luke Wilkinson) has done really well, Macca’s (Steve McNulty) done really well, Scott Griffiths has been outstanding, Steve O’Donnell is improving and improving, but we’ve conceded three goals again.

“I need to look at that, I really do. Maybe it’s a mix. They’re all good players, but maybe it’s a mix. I’ll watch a few DVDs and have a look at it over the weekend as I really don’t know.

“I can’t say to you, it’s because (of this), I don’t know. Because in training, very good, organisation very good, we go to games and I look at Wilko’s performances, very good, I look at Steve McNulty’s performances, very good, Scott Cuthbert’s performances, very good.

“But we’ve conceded three goals again. Up until last season, we don’t concede goals and we’re conceding goals at the moment.

“We have to rectify that, have to try and find a way of rectifying that as I think we’re getting better and better, but we can’t concede goals.

“We do defending two or three times a week but we have to go back into work next week and work again, again, again.”

On the match-winner itself, Still had no complaints with the dismissal of Cuthbert, but was more annoyed Hatters’ had found themselves in the situation, as he felt they would go on to snatch victory.

He added: “We had the ascendancy and everything in the last 10 minutes was in our favour, it looked like if one team wanted the game to end it would be them.

“Ninety nine per cent of the people here might have believed if there was to be a winner it would be us, now it isn’t us and I understand it isn’t us.

“We got really done between the centre halves. Scotty got caught under it, Wilko’s got to get round it, they only had one down the middle, so it’s poor defending.

“One ball beat us and if I’m disappointed I wouldn’t say it was with the performance, but I would say it was with the defending.

“Two of the goals were very avoidable, as we did everything to get back in the game. We scored two goals away from home and if you score two goals away from home you’d like to think you won’t get beat.

“But I have no complaints about not getting beat as we were contributors to our own downfall.”

Notts County 3 Luton Town 2

Luton Town turned late, late losers again as Liam Noble lashed a 93rd minute winner for Notts County to shatter a Hatters fight-back.

It's becoming a familiar and painful plotline but this third recurrence in seven League Two games – and a fifth time a late goal has been scored this term – was made all the more devastating at Meadow Lane after they came from two goal down.

Then, deep into injury time Scott Cuthbert took one for the team, with a professional foul on two-goal Izale McLeod to see red for denying the striker the chance of 91th minute hat-trick. But there was further punishment to come, with an unstoppable free-kick.

Before that, Luton had sprung into life in the 71st minute, with a five-minute rescue act from Cameron McGeehan and Jonathan Smith, they looked like they could even pinch a winner but other than that they were second best.

They still should have seen it out to claim a point but, after a first victory at Cambridge last week, it was one step forward and two steps back.

And it is stinging finales like this that would make even the most ardent optimist wonder whether promotion from the Football League's basement division may take as infuriatingly long to achieve as their passage out of the Conference.

Like County, club history has contributed to a position as favourites for success this term and between them they recruited 31 new players during the summer transfer window. But with 19 of them heading to Nottingham, on this evidence that can now scarcely be used as an excuse for Luton's problems, though something is not right at the back.

Naming an unchanged side for the first time this campaign the Hatters started and ended well, but it was the middle where it all went wrong.

McLeod did the damage as the central protagonist, who early on had entered referee Ben Toner's notebook for diving in the penalty area.

The official and the hosts thought they'd opened the scoring in the 26th minute from a free-kick, scrambled in at close quarters. County were well into their celebrations – to the maddening modern trend of a Seven Nation Army music soundtrack – before they'd realised the linesman's flag was raised, quite rightly for a foul on goalkeeper Mark Tyler. It marked the main official out – in County fans' eyes – as the pantomime villain of the piece while signalling their side's growing influence.

Six minutes later Luton's net bulged again when McLeod dispatched a header. This time it counted, the White Stripes boomed through the stadium speaker system once again and all of Town's early promise was scrubbed out. Yet it was potential performed largely outside the Notts penalty area and a Danny Green free-kick was all that troubled former Manchester United keeper Roy Carroll.

Tyler, on the other hand, was picking the ball out of the net again three minutes into the second half when a tackle ricocheted into the path of McLeod and the striker dinked with finesse over the outrushing goalie.

With the hosts comfortable and looking the likelier to score, Town struck back when a darting run and cross by Josh McQuoid found its way to McGeehan via Craig Mackail-Smith. The midfielder's shot carried just enough power to flick off Carroll's fingertips and into the roof of the net for his ninth in 40 appearances for the club.

With the Hatters pressing for an equaliser Tyler came to his side's rescue to deny Adam Campbell and moments later Luton surged up the other end and Smith slammed in a stunning equaliser from 25 yards.

An offside flag spared Town with four minutes remaining as County had a second goal of the afternoon chalked off and it should have set the alarm bells ringing. Not loud enough, clearly.

A route one ball caught the defence out and Cuthbert brought down McLeod, which looked to have averted the danger, albeit for the cost of a suspension, but then Noble delivered yet more late Luton heartbreak.

Notts County: Carroll, Amevor (Edwards, 85), Hollis, Snijders (Jenner, 79), Campbell (Noble, 85), Burke, Swerts, Stead, Audel, Aborah, McLeod

Unused subs: Loach, Smith, Spencer, Thompson

Luton: Tyler, O'Donnell, Smith, Cuthbert, Green (Hall, 51 [McNulty, 90]), Griffiths, Lee, Guttridge (McGeehan, 55), Mackail-Smith, McQuoid, Wilkinson

Unused subs: McCourt, Ruddock Mpanzu, Williams, King

Referee: Ben Toner

Attendance: 5,820 (1,689 away fans)

Manager John Still admitted he needs to work on Luton's defence but said he had 'no complaints' after his side lost to a late goal for the fourth time in League Two this term.

Izale McLeod fired Notts County into a two-goal lead but then Cameron McGeehan pulled one back in the 71st minute and Jonathan Smith blasted a 25-yard leveller to put Town in reach of an unlikely point.

But captain Scott Cuthbert was dismissed in the third minute of injury time for a professional foul on the Magpies' goalscorer and Liam Noble rocketed the resulting free-kick into the top corner to win it 3-2 in the 93rd minute.

It was a long ball that caught the Hatters napping and led to the centre back's red card and Still admitted: "It was poor defending. We do defending two or three times a week.

"If you score two goals away from home, you'd like to think you won't get beat, but I have no complaints about getting beat because we were contributors to our own downfall."

Still had no qualms with the red card for his skipper and said: "If it wasn't a sending off it still would have been a goal. The sending off didn't have anything to do with the goal.

"It's sometimes hard to put into words. We haven't started great [this season], but that hasn't really concerned me. We've picked up [our performance levels] in the last few games and I actually think we've picked up again [at Notts County]."

He added: "We are conceding goals at the moment. I have to try to find a way of rectifying that because I think we are getting better and better, but we can't give goals away like we are giving."

Still added: "I've got no complaints with how we've played but we have to be better defensively, so we have to go back into work next week and work defensively again and again and again.

"Having said that, we do so much of it, but we'll have to go back and do it again.

"Maybe it's a mix. They're all good players but maybe it's a mix. I'll watch a few DVDs and have a look at it over the weekend. I don't know, I really don't.

"I can't say to you, 'it's because of [this]', because in training we're very good. The organisation of it was very good.

"We go to games and look at the performances of Luke Wilkinson, Steve McNulty, Scott Cuthbert; [all] very good, [but] we conceded three goals again.

"There's a lot to work on ahead of next week's game."