Powell understands Luton fans' frustrations during Boro loss
Jeers from the away end at the SPORTA Arena
Hatters assistant manager Chris Powell understood the travelling fans’ frustration at not only seeing their side fail to win at Stevenage once more on Friday night, but also opting against going with two upfront during the second half of the 2-1 defeat.
With 66 minutes gone and Town trailing 1-0 at the SPORTA Arena, then with boss Jack Wilshere having been sent off following his reaction to Dan Kemp’s controversial first half goal, but still in touch with his coaching staff from the dressing room, the visitors opted to bring on top scorer Nahki Wells for the final stages.
When the fourth official’s board went up, it quickly became apparent that he was going to be replacing summer signing Callum Marshall, the one player who had looked the most like equalising for Town, having had three shots, one inches away from the bottom corner during the opening period. Realising the ex-West Ham United youngster was coming off, it led to jeers from the travelling supporters, not for the introduction of Wells, who has been in good form this term, but that it was in place of Marshall, with fans wanting to see both on in the hope of nabbing a point.
Asked about the reaction from those who had made the short trip to Hertfordshire, and why Town didn’t play both strikers, Powell said: “They can (do that), I’ve always said they can. It’s just decisions we made, with Jack and we just wanted to freshen up in different areas and give them a different problem. I can understand that. Maybe we’ll go two upfront in another game, it wasn’t a decision that we felt was right this evening.”
A few minutes after Wells was on, Town fell 2-0 down when an offside Josh Magennis saw the ball rebound off him and into the net, although Town were soon back to one adrift, Mads Andersen fortunately turning in Kasey Palmer’s volley from Jake Richards’ cross. However, the final 15 minutes plus seven of stoppage time saw home keeper Tommy Setford not even worked once, as although Wells had the most touches inside the box during his cameo, Luton never remotely looked like drawing level, which led to an angry response at full time too.
On the reaction, Powell continued: “There’s a bit of that and maybe they haven’t seen the replays (for the two controversial goals), I get that and we understand that. Emotions are always high at local derbies, whether it’s Stevenage or whether it’s Watford for us. It is frustrating, we understand that, the fans pay their money, they have the right to voice their opinions, but I think when they look back on it, that’s two goals that shouldn’t have stood, it’s as simple as that.”
With Town having 70 percent possession in the fixture, the main concern was the sideways and backwards nature of the Hatters’ passing throughout, especially during the second half where the cautious approach was a stark reminder of the difficulties Town had on the road last season and appeared to have put behind. Asked of he thought there was a lack of urgency from the visitors, Powell added: “There were two teams and to be fair to them, as much as I’m talking about two decisions, they defend their box really well.
"They’re a team that are quite happy without the ball and they close us down, they know that if they give us room, give us time and give us space, there’ll be a problem. So it was hard, it was really hard in the end, frustrating for everyone that we couldn't make the breakthrough and get anywhere near what we wanted to do to get back in the game.”