Archived News from March 2003
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REPORT FROM LUTON SITE
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Mansfield 3-2 Luton Town
hatternet.com , By Dan Collier The Hatters suffered their fourth defeat in six matches tonight as the chance of filling that final play-off place gets slimmer. Despite two fine goals from man of the match Tony Thorpe, poor defending allowed Mansfield to win 3-2 through Day, Christie and Corden... Mansfield went ahead after just nine minutes. A slip by Mathew Spring allowed the ball to be played in to Day, who had time to turn and fire his shot into the corner of the net from around the penalty spot. However, just four minutes later and the Hatters were back in it. Matthew Spring played the ball through for Tony Thorpe. It looked as if Curle was going to cut it out, but as he slipped Thorpe went clear. He skipped around the keeper and passed the ball into the net to equalise. The Hatters defence looked far from solid with four Mansfield players attacking in an up front role. Continuous pressure on the Luton defence paid off for the home side as on just before the half hour mark, they went back in front. Sol Davis mis-kicked his clearance straight to Christie, who was able to send the ball past Hirschfeld from 12 yards out. It stayed at 2-1 until the 79th minute when Mansfield put the game beyond Luton and secured the three points. Luton failed to clear a low cross from Christie and the ball fell to Corden , who had time to fire the ball into the top right-hand corner. It wasn't over though. Tony Thorpe still had time three minutes later to double his and Luton's score. Spring's through ball beat the offside trap and sent Thorpe through again. He again made his way around Welsh in the Mansfield goal and tapped the ball in for his 14th of season. Luton pushed for a share of the points in the final 8 minutes or so, but it wasn't to be and Mansfield claimed a convincing victory in the end. |
Latest | March 2003