Match Report Luton & the Spammers (what a contrast!)

 

Match Report Luton & the Spammers (what a contrast!)

What a contrast between Luton and the Wet Spamming Munchers game.

Son became our club's fifth-highest goal scorer in Saturday's victory over Luton Town. He scored his 160th goal for the club with four minutes of normal time remaining, collecting half-time substitute Brennan Johnson's clever pass before unleashing a shot which deflected off Daiki Hashioka on its way in.

That late winner lifts him above Cliff Jones in the club's all-time scorers list and keeps the pressure on Aston Villa in the race for a top-four Premier League finish.

Luton scored first…

Tahith Chong's well-worked goal had given our opposition an early lead at our Stadium, but Son struck both posts with the same shot in the first half before Issa Kabore turned Brennan Johnson's low cross into his own net early in the second. After restoring parity, we then laid siege to the Luton goal, but a series of challenges kept the score down to 2-1.

Son's 15th goal of the season goal came from behind to win for the fourth time in our past five Premier League home matches.

As for Villa, they moved back above us with a victory over Wolves on Saturday evening, while Luton dropped into the relegation zone.

Son has scored at least 15 goals in three of the past four Premier League seasons, having struck 21 times in 2021-22 and 17 times in 2020-21.

His goals have been worth 12 points to us this season, with five of his 15 efforts proving to be the winning goal.

Thoughts…

Son described our 3-0 defeat at Fulham before the international break as a "big wake-up call," but it took us a while to wake up from our slumber against Luton.

The opening goal was sloppy to concede, with Son dispossessed on the edge of the Luton area and Yves Bissouma beaten far too easily by Andros Townsend in the build-up to Chong's finish.

We were left cursing our luck when Son's shot rattled the inside of the near post, rolled across the goal line, struck the other post, and bounced clear—moments after Timo Werner had dragged a shot wide from a good position.

In the same move, Werner's follow-up effort was blocked by Kabore before Teden Mengi blocked Pape Sarr's goal-bound shot on the line.

We have now failed to score a first-half goal in six consecutive games, but we were level early in the second half when Johnson, who replaced the ineffective Dejan Kulusevski at half-time, shot a low ball across the face of goal, and Kabore slammed it into his net.

All over… Mel and I returned to my car and home.

Next up…

The Wet Spammers at the London Meccano stadium.

After a good victory over Luton, we fluffed our lines again… in Stratford on a wet and soggy day.

It took us a couple of hours to get to the London Meccano stadium and park up…, and then meet Janet for a pre-match meal. After that, we walked in the pouring rain to the stadium, meeting friends on the way.

While at the stadium, I saw Glenn Hoddle, and what was interesting about that was that 23 years ago, he took over as manager of the Tottenham team. The game was an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenic and Old Lace. We lost that game 2-1. A year later, he took us to the League Cup final. Sadly, we lost that game as well… I was at both matches.

On the subject of Glenn Hoddle, and before the Luton game, Janette myself and Mel travelled to Tottenham (26^th March), picked up Janet and went for an evening at the Tottenham stadium. That evening included questions and answers with Glenn Hoddle and watching the England/ Belgium game, which included food and drink (unlimited). Photos were taken of that evening – which are added here.

Anyway, back to the match against the munching Iron Mongers of Meccano Stadium…**

**[somebody said to me: what does Meccano have to do with the London stadium – well, Meccano is an educational tool to demonstrate principles of levers, pulleys, gears, bearings etc. Brackets and plates to secure and locate other components. To adapt and attach personal computer components, such as fans, disk drives etc. Small animal prosthetics. That should explain it all… or explains Spammers stadium in more detail]

…All I really can say about the game is that everybody concerned—fans, players, and manager—was left frustrated as our side missed the chance to move into the Premier League top four with the draw at a rain-soaked London Stadium.

Brennan Johnson's tap-in put us ahead after five minutes, but the Spammers levelled when Kurt Zouma headed home from a corner. Both sides showed determination but lacked a cutting edge as we drew.

Despite having 68% possession, we only had four shots on target, including Johnson's early opener and Destiny Udogie volleying straight at home goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski in second-half stoppage time.

Thoughts…

To be honest, we never looked likely to achieve the goals needed to overtake fourth-placed Aston Villa. They (Villa) face Manchester City on Wednesday at Etihad Stadium today (3rd). Let us hope that City wins that encounter. Nevertheless, we remain fifth, two points behind Villa.

Johnson—who was brought in as one of three changes to our starting line-up from Saturday's win over Luton—turned in from close range after Timo Werner was allowed space to get in behind the left side of the bubbling blowing munchers' defence and fire in a low cross.

The spammers responded, and their tactics of swinging in corners to put our goalkeeper under pressure worked when Zouma nodded in Jarrod Bowen's 19th-minute set-piece from five yards.

The bubble blowers came closest to finding a winner after the break. Still, Michail Antonio shot straight at Vicario after he had overpowered Micky van de Ven to get one-on-one with the keeper.

West Ham stay seventh in the Europa Conference League qualification place, as both Newcastle and Wolves failed to win.

With the promise of fourth place, we came out of the traps quicker than in recent games.

Our fifth-minute opener came after our previous 12 league goals were all scored in the second halves of matches, a run dating back to 3 February.

We conceded from a corner, which dropped on top of Vicario, who had twice punched unconvincingly at earlier set-pieces.

That was that… when we left the stadium, the rain had stopped. I finally got home at 1 am. Mel an hour later. Janet had left us at the stadium to make her way home.

Now we watch and wait for the City/ Villa game with our fingers crossed. On Sunday, we face Forest at home, while on Saturday—the day before—Villa take on Brentford at their stadium.

We are currently on 57 points, two points behind Villa, who also have a two-goal advantage. Our nearest rivals are United on 48 points and the Spammers on 45. We face Newcastle in just over a week's time, who are in the 8^th spot and on 44 points. It's still all to play for…

We are only 10 points behind the league leaders, the Bin Dippers.  Arsenic and Old Lace are 8 points above us in second, while City are in 3rd and with 7 points, and we still have to play the top three. A potential – if we win them – of nine points.

Up the Spurs!

COYS!

Glenn

An evening with Glenn Hoddle (Janette & Myself with the great man)