There was a sad moment in this match when Hatters legend Sonny Bradley sat down in the Luton penalty area, ripped off his shin pads, and walked straight off the pitch. Lesser men would have stayed down for longer. But such is the character of the fella who was inspirational for Luton in their climb up the divisions, he did not waste any time.
It proved a crucial blow for Derby as a late show from Luton Town via two deflections turned around a stumbling performance to produce a 2-1 Christmas cracker of a 3 points.
The crowd has been wondering for months why Pelly didn’t get more game time.
Minutes after arriving on to the pitch, it was his banger from the edge of the box that flew into the net off Tommy Holmes’ backside.
And who won the freekick for that opening goal? None other than Joe Taylor, who has also had massively restricted minutes. Joe drew the foul simply through hunger to get to the ball first and having the elasticity of youth.
A word for the maligned Woodrow who took that opening goal set piece. And was on hand to start the second goal when his dead ball delivery resulted in pin ball in the box. It fell to Elijah who drew a great save. But man mountain and captain colossus Carlton took aim, and smashed it into the net via another deflection.
The programme notes rightly reflected on the magnificent achievement of securing Power Court made in the Council chamber earlier in the week. They also talked about Luton reaching a turning point on the pitch. Which has been said before this season. A morale boosting home win though has usually been followed by a crushing defeat away.
Let’s see if the lads can turn it around in the festive period though with away trips to the West, starting with Bristol City on Thursday.
#COYH
Town: Kaminski, Moses (sub Nelson 69), Chong, Andersen (sub Johnson 86), McGuinness, Holmes, Krauß (sub Mpanzu 69), Clark (sub Taylor 86), Brown (sub Woodrow 69), Morris, Adebayo.