9 October 2013

We're soccer crazy and goals are our code

They say be careful what you wish for. But as our fingernails slowly begin to grow back and pacemakers are reset in time to drink in the next ridiculous 90 minutes of our beloved Town, I don’t hear many longing for a return to the cagey stuff.



“We’re soccer crazy and goals are our code, we are the hatters of Kenilworth Road. You come and see us and you’ll get the thrills, right through the whole of the season” sang The Barron Knights back in ‘74. Their tribute to The Town “Hatters Hatters” painted a picture of a Luton side built for pure entertainment. But those old enough to have heard this peculiar musical creation outside of YouTube will have seen enough ups and downs to know it’s not always been blockbuster stuff.

After a thrilling turnaround against Lincoln and a vintage night in Woking, the old heads must have feared that the 0-0 at Hereford would signal the end of the goal rush, and the start of another barren spell in front of goal.

But just as The Knights prophesied, in the games that followed we were treated to more goals at both ends than are dotted around Hackney Marshes. We are all living dream here, lads! Glance up to the Director’s Box and you can almost see Eric Morecambe wiggling his glasses, smile at the ready.

In the wide-eyed words of Richard Money this week, “Are you not entertained?” Unlike the supporters behind the dugout of our former manager’s Cambridge Utd, who were seemingly not happy with being 7 (now 8) points clear at the top of the Skrill, we definitely were.

25 goals in the last 6 games, is plenty of bang for your Bedfordshire buck. Especially considering one of them was a 0-0. And with our resolve to support the team till the bitter-end appearing to hold firm for now, we are starting to look very tough to beat. Not in that anti-football way that Stoke City are sometimes hard to beat at the Britannia. We’re tough to beat in that fun last minute terrace-shaking equaliser way. The sing your way back to the station way.

The truth is that despite the growing gap at the top, we all know that the points grasped from the jaws of... err... slightly less points in the last few weeks would never have been ours last season.

There’s an tangible buzz about the place at the moment. Still appears relaxed and comfortable as he wise-cracks his way through press conferences, his own doubt disappearing week after week as he grows into the role. The players are celebrating each goal like it were their first and last. There’s even room for a dissenting fan in the post match huddle-cuddle.

But hold on there. As you and I, dear reader, approach the end of this page together, we battered and confused Luton fans are both sure of one thing aren’t we? You know what I’m talking about don’t you?

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, you, me, the players, the big huddle-cuddle, all of us together... we’re heading for a nil-nil.

Because as the Barron Knights failed to sing, the slightly creepy “thrills” that they mention never last “right through the whole of the season” do they? They come and go. And this whiskey-soaked football cliché guidebook here is telling me that it’s a marathon and not a sprint, and there’s a fair way to go yet. So let’s stay behind ‘em, eh.

Oh and Oak Road, gi’s a song.

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