Ten heroes

That we managed to come away with an improbable win was not down only to Ade – by the end it was a team burgeoning with heroes, ten men that had given everything.

It began as a fixture with above average expectation attached to it, at least for me. Two wins in a row had me curious to see if Burnley could take this on and put one over an early front runner. I’d also heard a lot about Dyer’s performance on Tuesday night - home games I am unable to attend these days living in London- and I was keen to see him in action.

There were a couple of changes, with Courtney in for Duff and McGreal making a surprise re-appearance as Lowe dropped to the bench. I assume the lack of information from SC regarding McGreal was deliberate. The mooted switch of Dyer for Spicer hadn’t materialised but was to have significance later on.

The early exchanges were characterised with some aggressive pressing by Luton, with both their wingers looking lively and, to put it politely, the ‘robust’ Howard causing some annoyance. Jensen was forced into a couple of neat saves in these early exchanges, most notably from a Howard turn and shot after ten minutes.The referee wasn’t doing us any favours with Howard’s strong arm tactics and we were struggling to get hold of and retain the ball.

Fifteen minutes in and to Ade. It’s fair to say that his resurrection as a footballer began at Stoke - but during his short time at Burnley, and now here at Luton - it is complete. I’m confident Burnley could add an extra digit to the fee paid for his services earlier this year, and yours truly is eating humble pie as he writes this, I being one of a number unsure of this particular signing until a few months ago. Like many supporters around the land, I paid too much attention to the name, not the player.

This was one of those games where you willed the ball to be sucked toward him at every opportunity; such was his presence and superiority over the Luton defence. He appeared to have gained an extra five yards of pace and was simply unstoppable running at them. Twice in the first half he burst through the Luton defence.

Firstly as Luton were caught on the break and claiming for a hand ball, nonchalantly passing the ball low past Beresford. He then repeated it 15 minutes later down the same right channel, as Spicer put him away.

Outpacing the defence, Ade slammed a stunning half volley into the roof of the net and went on a victory run around the pitch that silenced three sides of the ground and had the away end going wild. It’s a long time since I’ve seen such a display of pace and power from a Claret forward, and although in some ways it is unfair to compare, I was reminded of John Francis’s feats at Plymouth way back when.

Yet with Burnley seemingly coasting at this stage, disaster struck as Jensen got it all wrong, rushing out and handling the ball outside the box as Howard was bearing down on a through ball. It felt harsh, but rules are rules and Jensen had to go. He had been having a solid game, but as is often the case, his occasional lapses tend to prove significant. This left us in the situation just before half time some had dreaded but most likely pushed to the back of their minds – who would go in goal if something happened to Jensen?

After a number of minutes deliberation between players and bench - Jensen in this time having to be reminded that someone might require his goalkeeping jersey as he trudged off - the smaller frame of Spicer emerged wearing it. To say that the shirt fit wasn’t quite right would be an understatement; quite frankly he may as well have been wearing a tent.

It was obvious we were now in trouble and the game was strongly back in Luton’s favour despite being 2-0 down. It was pretty quickly apparent that Spicer is no goalkeeper, not even an emergency stand in, and there were a few people in the stand at this point who were probably gagging to see anyone, even Branch, on the first EasyJet flight in. If only that could happen.

Luton were straight on the attack and had us penned in, first with a free kick from the hand ball, then a succession of corners that led to Howard rising highest at the far post and looping a header in to the net with Spicer rooted to the line; just as well that Elliott failed to keep the ball out with his hand, as that would have had us down to nine in the space of five minutes.

Half time and we were in the surreal position of contemplating a defeat. It felt like the game had been swept from under us, and that Luton might score every time they attacked.

At this stage a slight topical diversion; how nice it is to visit a ground with genuine character, where a pie and a coffee are relatively easy to come by, and where the toilets actually have toilet paper in the cubicles and shock, horror, hand towels available too.

Second half and a change. G O’Connor was off and somewhat surprisingly to me, Gifton Noel-Williams on. It is not clear to me why this change was made, as O’Connor didn’t appear injured, but it did puzzle. Firstly because it meant Ade now playing in a more withdrawn role on the left hand side and secondly because although GNW is useful at holding the ball up, he is not so good at chasing it and that is what he was required to do for most of the half. I felt that, with Ade having terrorised Luton’s shaky defence, we needed to get as much of the ball to him as possible. I also felt Dyer might have given us a more useful attacking outlet on the break. What did I know.

The second half started as the first half had finished – with Luton attacking. They weren’t making much headway though, and playing pretty deep given the circumstances. Then came Ade’s third act. Although not seeing a lot of the ball, he got through on the left side of the box and as he cut in, committed his man.

From my position I wasn’t sure how much contact there was, and it looked like Ade had played for it, but a penalty it was as the referee immediately pointed to the spot. There was no taking the ball away from Ade, and he planted it to Beresford’s right without a problem – cue some predictably sarcastic chants to the Luton supporters.

Luton predictably came back at us and when their second goal came six minutes later it was no surprise as to the root of it. Corners had been causing us no end of problems with no goalkeeper to come and claim them and in a ruck of players, Luton’s front man Feeney converted from close range.

The rest of the game passed in a bit of a haze, albeit a long one. Luton huffed and puffed, our defence repelled almost everything they threw at us, and when they did get through most notably via a Hyde slip, Spicer proved equal to it. Refereeing decisions started to go in our favour, and Luton visibly began to run out of ideas. When what felt like 4 hours, rather than 4 minutes of stoppage time finally passed, Burnley had completed a truly remarkable victory.

In the final analysis, we had got our win through exceptional skill, then exceptional tenacity – and let’s also be honest here – a pretty poor second half from Luton.

While Ade is the obvious stand out player, others emerged in that second half and McGreal and Sinclair in particular were outstanding in shutting out Luton and keeping Spicer’s work down to a minimum. Spicer also deserves special praise for taking on the job, and the one low scrambling save mid way through the second half was crucial. But really, they were all heroes, and my men and women of the match, plural, includes of course the fantastic Burnley support that swept the atmosphere out around the ground long after the final whistle.

It was a shame that Beresford (7 goals conceded in his last two games against Burnley) couldn’t acknowledge our support at the end – repeating his habit of looking shell-shocked - but the team huddle, as Ade formed the final link of it complete with match ball, was a fitting end to it.

We’d seen something special, and walking immediately out into a street of faceless terraced houses after all the excitement, as is the case at Luton - and however prosaic that may be – it was not going to dim the moment.