Plucky Luton ride the occasional storm but eventually come to dominate proceedings and score a late goal to condemn the Tigers to a third consecutive loss.

"Men against boys" was, broadly speaking, the unwritten sub-text of the newspaper reports (at any rate, the ones I read) of our third defeat in a week, heralding our worst run for, ooooo, six games. Whilst no fair observer would, in the end in the end, begrudge Luton the spoils by the strange hour for a game to end of 2.50 p.m. yesterday, it is also equally fair to say that the sort of stuff reported by our esteemed media (and I exempt from this the BBC, whose report on Radio 5 was even-handed if a little dispassionate) was pretty typical of the way in which lazy football journalists in this country write match reports based purely on the end result regardless of what actually happened.

Make no mistake, Luton played very well, to the point firstly of being arguably the most impressive outfit we have faced at any time this season with the exception of the first half at Molineux, and secondly of causing your humble correspondent to review his opinion of Hatters boss Mike Newell, whom I have long regarded as a football practitioner (both player and manager) of limited ability whose success in the football world has arisen by virtue alone of the happy circumstance of inadvertently but persistently finding himself surrounded by more talented individuals to carry him and enable him to avoid getting rumbled, but on whom I now think I was being maybe a touch hard. They were organised, hard-working, pacy and physically strong, if looking at times a shade vulnerable at the back which itself is hardly surprising when you’ve just offloaded a £ 3 million defender.

But despite all of this, City caused them more than enough problems, only to be undone by the same problems which have already cost us points aplenty this season: not scoring goals, and losing shape in the last twenty minutes after the inevitable tactical substitutions. Yesterday, the second of these might not have mattered so much if the first had not reared its ugly head again: whilst our visitors had their moments, by half time City had notched up at least six genuine goalscoring chances and ought to have been in possession of a commanding if not match-winning lead, and whilst Beresford in the Luton goal was not quite so beleaguered after the break, the presence of more of a cutting edge might well have brought its just reward. But to be honest, things fell apart badly in the last quarter in exactly the same way they had done in the Stoke game, and given Luton’s propensity to snatch late winners, it came as no real surprise to seasoned Tiger watchers that that is precisely what they did in the closing minutes.

So, with three straight defeats and a paltry haul of five goals, is it time to press the panic button, as the usual suspects (i.e the ones who had us promoted after the Plymouth game) are no doubt insisting? Definitely not. The lack of goals is a concern, for sure, and while greater ruthlessness in front of goal would undoubtedly bring its reward and efforts to achieve it must be high on Taylor’s priorities, it is also true that we have been desperately unlucky in recent weeks, to an extent which surely will not dog us for much longer, and while Boaz was heralded as the man of the match yesterday Beresford played his part as well and must have been in the running for at least a place on the rostrum. The running out of steam and ideas in the final stages is more of a concern especially as it’s unclear whether this is down to lack of fitness or the absence of a practised plan when things are changed around after the hour as Taylor likes to do, or (more probably) some combination of the two. If truth be told, this is something which has been apparent even in the last two promotion seasons but has not started to cost us points until now; a bit of sloppiness in the latter stages will not lose you either results or fan goodwill when you’re two up and coasting against the likes of Rochdale, but a persistent and ruthless Championship outfit certainly will exploit it, and taking steps to cut it out will form part of the steep learning curve on which the management and players have already embarked. Neither is the correction of this particular weakness an impossibility when you have a responsive squad of players of the quality of ours.

Taking all of this into account, and whilst two home defeats on the bounce is a cause for concern, it’s not at all complacent, for the moment, to put it all down to the fact that we are still feeling our way in this Division and have by any analysis still a bit to learn about how it’s done at this level. In other words, the last three games (and parts of the others) have shown us the areas of our game we need to work on. If we can do this, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t, then we can without doubt become a formidable proposition at this level. Don’t forget also that the start of this season has heralded probably the worst injury crisis in the Club’s history (which reared its ugly head again yesterday) and which can hardly have helped; indeed, we would all do well to reflect on the fact that had our opponents yesterday suffered as badly as us, they would probably have been reduced to fielding juniors.

As for the detail of yesterday’s encounter, the Tigs lined up as follows:-

Myhill
Coles Cort Delaney Dawson
France Green Welsh Elliott
Barmby Brown

Don’t read too much into the above formation, though; Barmby and Elliott seemed to swap places at times while France spent a lot of time in the centre of the park.

Luton kicked off towards the South Stand, and as the two sides sniffed around each other like a couple of wary dogs, little of note happened until the eighth minute, when Coles, as he moved to clear a Luton attack, fell to the ground in obvious distress under pressure form Howard (who to be fair looked quite blameless) and was promptly stretchered off, apparently with a cartilage problem, to be replaced by the bleached-haired Joseph. City were not at all knocked out of their stride by this, though, and on 12 mins France headed narrowly wide from a Green cross after a Welsh shot following some neat interplay with Brown had been diverted into the fish-lipped one’s path. Although Luton looked the more composed, they were making little impact against a resolute Tigers rearguard at this stage and indeed even at this early stage Howard was showing signs of frustration, not least when he went in very late on Cort on 21, a challenge which should have seen referee Salisbury’s hand venture into his card pocket. But the Hatters were certainly winning the physical battle, and the procession of obstructions, stray elbows and the like going unpunished would perhaps have sent a message to a more streetwise outfit than City that two can play at that game. To be fair though, we kept plugging away and after 27 mins France, Elliott and Brown all combined with some fine play to set up Greeny, whose low drive was tipped round the post by Beresford at full stretch.

This marked the start of probably the most entertaining phase of the game, with both sides creating chances and going close. On 35 a France lob went just wide after he had been fed by Green (who incidentally, although he pleasingly got more involved than of late, still left the midfield exposed through his lack of physical presence), but almost immediately play swung to the other end and Boaz tipped a wicked Morgan drive over after the Luton 23 had been given much too much space. Two minutes on, and a slip by Perett in the Luton defence sent Brown away but again Beresford made a fine save. A minute after that we had the ball in the onion bag (for the first time at the North stand end this season) after Barmby headed in from Brown’s flick-on but the City number 8 was adjudged to be offside. A minute after that Brkovic did the same at the other end, albeit the offside flag was up well before the leather got even a sniff of the netting. Luton’s purple patch continued though, with City unable to clear their lines effectively for several minutes, and Boaz made another fine stop on 41. Respite finally came for the Tigers deep into the four minutes’ injury time resulting mainly from Coles’ injury, with first Elliott (whose timing seems of late to have gone a shade awry when he jumps for the ball) and then Cort heading narrowly over in quick succession.

The respite was brief though following the resumption of hostilities, and after the dangerous Feeney, for my money their best player, had been given too much room to find Howard on 46 the Luton marksman’s effort came back off the post. We were under the cosh indeed at this point and Myhill had to make good saves in quick succession from Edwards and Nicholls. To their credit, City battled hard to stamp some authority onto the game, although it’s fair to say that being constantly pulled up by the referee didn’t help one bit. We had a good spell nevertheless approaching the hour when first Green released France and the keeper saved well, and then Barmby was unable to get sufficient power behind a header from a Joseph cross, allowing Beresford to make the save. In truth, though, that was as good as it got for us. Brown should have done better on the hour when a quick break by Elliott and France set things up for him but the Sunderland loanee dithered too long and the cover regrouped, but shortly after Barmby was, predictably, replaced by Fagan and any momentum we had mustered was rapidly dissipated.

Although the game now entered a formless spell, if there was going to be a winner to this contest it manifestly wasn’t going to be us. Dawson was lucky not to be adjudged to have handled in the box on 72 (although an outrageous Luton offside had gone unpunished immediately beforehand) and then Myhill made another great save a minute later. We were finding ourselves heavily under the cosh at this point and the entry of Big Ben into the fray did nothing to change the dynamics of the game, even though the City number 9 was markedly less woeful than he had been on Tuesday. But Luton’s prowess at grabbing late winners is well documented, and the more worldly-wise among us batted scarcely an eyelid when, with six minutes remaining on the clock, Myhill made another great stop from a narrow angle, only for the ball to be crossed back in from the right, leaving Howard time to control the leather and ping it high into the top right-hand corner from the edge of the six-yard box. Although Luton had been threatening this it was a bad goal to concede, especially as, in a similar manner to Stoke’s winner, we were frankly all over the place, and to leave such an accomplished goalscorer as Howard unmarked is frankly criminal.

In the remaining six minutes plus four of injury time, we had plenty of the ball but showed little threat despite a couple of hopeful penalty appeals, and the nearest anyone came to scoring was Nicholls bang on 90 when Myhill was forced into another fine low save.

So, the curse of Sky strikes again, and all but about 200 (a pitiful turnout, by the way, Luton) of a crowd of 19 184 went home disappointed.

Overall, then, a rather sobering afternoon, especially in the context of recent results and the prospect of two away games, but there were still positives to take from the game and, hopefully, plenty of time to work on the areas that need it and still be a credible force in this campaign.

If your spirits aren’t sufficiently lifted by this, then check out the Christian names of the mascots on page 47 of the programme; truly beyond parody, even in this age of parental self-indulgence.

HULL CITY (4-4-2): Myhill; Coles, Cort, Delaney, Dawson; France, Green, Welsh, Elliott; Brown, Barmby.  Subs: Joseph (for Coles, 9), Fagan (for Barmby, 62), Burgess (for Brown, 78), Woodhouse, Duke.

Goals: None

Booked: Joseph

Sent Off: None

LUTON TOWN: Beresford, Edwards, Perrett, Coyne, Davis, Morgan, Nicholls, Robinson, Brkovic, Howard, Feeney.  Subs: Barnett (for Perrett, 89), Brill, Andrew, Holmes, Keane.

Goals: Howard 85

Booked: None

Sent Off: None

REFEREE: G Salisbury

ATTENDANCE: 19,184