First half goalscorers Danny Crow (left) and Matthew Barnes-Homer make a nuisance of themselves
LUTON TOWN 3 LIVERPOOL 0
Pre-season friendly
Kenilworth Road
Tuesday July 27, 2010
7.45pm
A dominant display from Luton saw them banish memories of Alfreton to turn on the style and swagger past Liverpool’s young guns.
First half goals from the impressive front pairing of Matthew Barnes-Homer and Danny Crow signalled to fans in their first home game of this pre-season campaign that their team really can fulfil their potential as Conference champions elect.
Dan Gleeson, who followed Crow from Cambridge in the summer, then emulated his pal by bagging a goal on his home debut on 55 minutes to put the gloss on a useful night’s workout.
As for the opposition, there are clearly slim pickings these days from the Anfield production line, and a team littered with foreign names rather fuels the post World Cup fire about England’s big boys not nurturing enough homegrown talent. But that shouldn’t detract from the verve that Town exhibited, which was far more ‘pass and move it’s the Liverpool groove’ than their young counterparts from Merseyside.
Manager Richard Money made four changes from the side that lost 3-0 on Saturday with Mark Tyler in for Kevin Pilkington, Keith Keane for Stefan Bailey, Crow for Tom Craddock and Jake Howells for Alan White.
The Hatters turned out, for the second time, in the 125-year pink and navy commemorative strip and began with some neat passing triangles on a Kenilworth Road surface looking positively luxurious compared to the end of the last campaign.
A concise one-two between Howells and Freddie Murray in the second minute saw the latter cross for George Pilkington, playing in his familiar central defensive role, to drill a shot at Reds keeper Dean Bouzanis.
Persistence from Howells in the 13th minute earned him possession by the Liverpool goal line and the youngster slipped in Barnes-Homer who opted for power eight yards out and drilled at the legs of the number one.
Luton’s teenage winger was central to everything they were doing in an attacking sense and a sublime chipped throughball for Crow was millimetres from coming off as the striker, who looks a fabulous capture and showed some intelligent running, evaded his marker near the penalty spot but just could bring the ball under control.
Andy Drury came close to an opener 25 minutes in with a curling free kick that just sailed inches past the angle of the goal.
Soon after and Howells fared better with accuracy but his drilled effort was easy pickings for the keeper.
The breakthrough came on 39 minutes when a Drury dink caught Liverpool napping and saw Barnes-Homer, who has looked like a man out to prove a point in pre-season, beat their offside trap to ghost in and thump past Bouzanis at the keeper’s near post.
By contrast Luton’s guests managed their first effort on Tyler’s goal three minutes from the break with a dipping, but always off target, free kick from Gerado Bruna. Their second came seconds after but it trickled to the stopper.
Town ended the half with the best move of the match as a one-two between Freddie Murray and Crow, found its way, via a Barnes-Homer dummy, out wide to Drury who busted a gut to pull back from the by-line for the former U’s forward to get the goal his night had deserved.
The Hatters came out for the second period unchanged and set about their work in the same fashion adding to their tally ten minutes in when Pilkington headed a Drury free kick into the path of Gleeson to stab home from close range.
From there it was an exercise for Luton in holding on to a lead and seeing out the game, and if there are more of those than not this season then the coming campaign will be a happy one.
LUTON: Tyler, Gleeson (Newton, 60), Pilkington, Blackett (Lacey, 82), Murray, Drury (Watkins, 75), A. Murray (Poku, 64), Keane, Howells, Crow (Walker, 72), Barnes-Homer
Subs: K.Pilkington, White, Gallen, Craddock, Bailey
Attendance: 2, 769