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All the talk on the fan sites and in the local media was about how Luton were going to win today and seal promotion. I was one of just a handful of cautious people thinking : wait a minute, nothing's certain, Braintree are no mugs, they've got a play-off spot to play for.
The ground was a sell-out and before kick-off the place was buzzing, and I started to believe we were going to do it. There was confusion around the Hillsborough tribute : it appeared to me that what happened was that we all started to observe a minute's silence, after a brief time the ref blew his whistle, some of us thought that meant the silence was over and clapped, the rest of the ground took that as meaning the tribute would be a minute's applause and began a sustained clapping that the players joined in and that continued till the ref blew.
I later read on Facebook that it had actually been planned as 30/30 silence/applause. Wonder if that will catch on.
Despite a wall of noise from the home fans for the first quarter hour, Luton yet again were lacking ideas and pep throughout the first half. Braintree dominated and deservedly scored twice. The Hatters came out no better after the break and Braintree got a third in a breakaway on the hour.
A few minutes after, a Braintree defender handled in the box and Jake Howells converted the spot-kick to revive both the team and the fans. The ground was a great wall of sound from then through to the end, but although Alex Wall volleyed beautifully in from distance for Luton's second, and Paul Benson, Steve McNulty and Mark Cullen all came close with powerful shots, Luton couldn't salvage a point. The champagne stays on ice.
Everyone was so convinced we'd win and seal promotion, I suppose defeat was inevitable. At the bus stop the consensus was "the better team won". The TV camera jinx was mentioned, but as one guy pointed out we have to stop blaming it. None of us wanted to be killjoys but several of us did mention that the team haven't been playing well for several weeks.
Just want Kidderminster to beat Cambridge on Tuesday and end the agony.
The ground was a sell-out and before kick-off the place was buzzing, and I started to believe we were going to do it. There was confusion around the Hillsborough tribute : it appeared to me that what happened was that we all started to observe a minute's silence, after a brief time the ref blew his whistle, some of us thought that meant the silence was over and clapped, the rest of the ground took that as meaning the tribute would be a minute's applause and began a sustained clapping that the players joined in and that continued till the ref blew.
I later read on Facebook that it had actually been planned as 30/30 silence/applause. Wonder if that will catch on.
Despite a wall of noise from the home fans for the first quarter hour, Luton yet again were lacking ideas and pep throughout the first half. Braintree dominated and deservedly scored twice. The Hatters came out no better after the break and Braintree got a third in a breakaway on the hour.
A few minutes after, a Braintree defender handled in the box and Jake Howells converted the spot-kick to revive both the team and the fans. The ground was a great wall of sound from then through to the end, but although Alex Wall volleyed beautifully in from distance for Luton's second, and Paul Benson, Steve McNulty and Mark Cullen all came close with powerful shots, Luton couldn't salvage a point. The champagne stays on ice.
Everyone was so convinced we'd win and seal promotion, I suppose defeat was inevitable. At the bus stop the consensus was "the better team won". The TV camera jinx was mentioned, but as one guy pointed out we have to stop blaming it. None of us wanted to be killjoys but several of us did mention that the team haven't been playing well for several weeks.
Just want Kidderminster to beat Cambridge on Tuesday and end the agony.
