Wrexham vs Luton - Shambles

There's not a lot that I want to say about yesterday's performance, and doubtless any other Luton fan that went to Wrexham will have a lot more to say about the performance. If you didn't go but went to any of the away games such as Kettering or Salisbury where we've played poorly, just think of a performance like that, only even worse. Think of a performance that saw no shots on goal the whole game (except for one Hatch header that went in but was disallowed), a performance that saw no understanding between the midfielders and no cohesion anywhere between any Luton players on the pitch. For me, the worst thing about it was the defence. The usually solid defence crumbled with no resistance at all. There was some doubt over whether the penalty for the first goal should have been awarded, and more than a suspicion of offside about the second goal, with one Wrexham player seemingly attempting to get to the ball right in front of Tyler. But anything less than a 3-0 home victory would have been unfair on the home side.

That isn't to say that Wrexham were that good a team. Their position in the league before, and the fact that they had gone over three games without a goal before yesterday showed that, and their performance wasn't that great really. However, they did play as a team and did have a good understanding between themselves, as opposed to no understanding at all. As a club they probably should be at least a league higher than they are at the moment. One thing is for sure - their defenders won't have been feeling too tired this morning. With a couple of them slipping over in the first half, you'd have thought we should have been able to test them, run at them, and try and give them a scare. Not once did we do that. A free-kick from Jarvis towards the end of the first-half found Pilkington in the area, who headed over the bar. Towards the end of the match Blackett had a cross/shot that went over but was covered all the way by the Wrexham keeper, and that was as close to goalmouth action as Luton got all night. I have no idea what to make of Chris Maxwell in the Wrexham goal, as he had virtually nothing to do all game. Wrexham were creating chances most of the game. They weren't great chances, and nothing that Tyler had any problems dealing with generally, but if you don't shoot you don't score, and by this time Wrexham were cruising anyway. The third goal just summed things up for me. A poor backpass from Blackett (I think) was intercepted and scrambled in.

Sorry for a vague and brief match report, but to be honest the performance was so bad I've tried to put the match to the back of my memory. The final whistle was greeted with the obligatory boos from the away fans, disappointed that instead of progressing and getting better as a team as the season progresses, we seem to be going backwards and making absolutely no progress whatsoever.

On a completely different note, well done to the people behind the very good memorial service that was taking place before the game. As someone born over half a century afterwards, who knew nothing about the Gresford Colliery disaster prior to the match, its importance and relevance 75 years on in the Wrexham community was clear for anyone to see. The silence around the Racecourse Ground during the memorial service was a testimony to the job done by everyone connected with the memorial. So well done to them on an excellent service.

The only mistake in that service from what I could tell was the announcement of Mike Newell as the Luton manager, which obviously annoyed part of the Luton contingent. Last time Luton visited Wrexham, the Hatters were clinching the League One title under the aforementioned Newell. The atmosphere surely couldn't have been any more different in the away end. Four years ago there must have been close to 3000 Luton fans, this year there was 300. The party atmosphere after the final whistle four years ago was a harsh contrast to the boos and anger felt by the travelling contingent this time around. As a fan of fifteen years, the 23^rd April 2005 has to be the best day supporting Luton so far. 22 September 2009 in the same place is definitely one of the worst.