Set piece nightmare leaves us bottom of the group

Last updated : 24 July 2002 By Andy Robinson
Robbie Blake - scored the Burnley goal from the spot
Luton took the lead after only 5 minutes when Howard latched on to a through Ball from Nielson and found the corner of the net past Beresford.

On 41 minutes Robbie Blake was fouled in the box and picked himself up to send the keeper the wrong way from the spot to make it 1-1 at the break.

The lead didn't last long as the Hatters re-took the lead on 54 minutes when Howard notched his second goal of the game from Kimble's cross.

There then followed Burnley's best spell of the match with Taylor, Ian Moore and Cook all coming close but as Burnley pressed for an equaliser Bayliss made it 3-1 right on 90 minutes.

As was often the case last season Burnley fell to set pieces and both Luton goals in the second half came from corners in a second half when we did get into the game a little more. The first half had been totally dominated by Luton and they could have been out of reach by the time we got our equaliser.

This latest disappointment on the island means we look likely to face the one side we didn’t want to face this coming Friday, the Isle of Man. Who plays who in this competition has never been clear from the information given out with Group A and B play offs suggested. It does look though as it will be play offs for 3rd/4th place and for 5th/6th place and with us bottom of our group we will play the bottom of Group B.

The Burnley team showed a number of changes from the side that drew with Wrexham on Sunday.

The teams were;

Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Dean West, Marlon Broomes, Mark McGregor, Graham Branch, Brad Maylett (Glen Little 45), Tony Grant (Alan Moore 45), Lee Briscoe (Steve Davis 71), Paul Cook, Robbie Blake (Gareth Taylor 45), Andy Payton (Ian Moore 45).

Luton Town: Carl Emberson, Alan Neilson (Ian Hillier 45), Emmerson Boyce, David Bayliss, Alan Kimble, Steve Robinson (Matthew Spring 45), Ahmet Brkovic, Kevin Nicholls (Aaron Skelton 45), Christophe Kinet (Adrian Forbes 45), Steve Howard, Tony Thorpe (Dean Crowe 71).

The good news was that Alan Moore and Glen Little were both able to play 45 minutes after picking up injuries on Sunday whilst Stan said after the game that Coxy and Stretch Armstrong could be fit to play on Friday.

Meanwhile after being told by the club that Paul Weller was recovering from his knee operation, something we here knew was false information, Stan admitted yesterday that he is in plaster with an ankle injury. He did give the impression though that it is not as bad as first feared and he could be fit for the start of the season. It had certainly been feared that he had a hairline fracture. But why will they not tell us the truth about these things?