Brill spot save earns Luton futile point

BARNET 1 LUTON TOWN 1

Underhill

League Two

Saturday April 18, 2009

3pm


Dean Brill's superb penalty save from former Hatter Paul Furlong made sure that ten-men Luton left with something from a fiery end of season fixture.

Barnet took a deserved first half lead through Adam Birchall before Mick Harford's men levelled early in the second when Rossi Jarvis scored his third goal of the campaign and put Luton in full control.

There was only one team in it until Hatters gave away a stupid penalty that Brill had to be at full stretch to deny Furlong - last season's top scorer at Kenilworth Road.

Tempers threatened to boil over when captain Kevin Nicholls was shown a second yellow card on 77 minutes but both teams kept their cool in the face of some shocking refereeing.

As Mark Bower returned to Bradford City, Chris Martin served the final game of his suspension and Kvin Gallen and Lewis Emanuel remained in the treatment room, Luton were forced to change the side from Monday's draw with Chesterfield.

In came Sol Davis, Michael Spillane and Jarvis as Harford fielded a formation suspiciously looking like the much-maligned 4-5-1 his predecessor Kevin Blackwell favoured.

The only recognised striker on the field was Tom Craddock and with the pressure now off, the Hatters boss chose to experiment with his tactics.

With the Bees' League Two safety secured and Luton's fate already sealed there was nothing to play for but pride in the north London sun.

A spicy opening few minutes threatened to boil over when Nicholls picked up the game's first booking. Already appealing a five-game ban, the captain got his name in the book for dissent after Asa Hall was pole-axed in mid-air by former Hatter Michael Leary.

What football there was on show was coming from Luton's neat passing, which was easy on the eye yet never really threatened Barnet.

Hatters thought their good intentions had given them the lead 12 minutes in only for the linesman's flag to deny them.

Nicholls curled a free kick into the area which was met by David Livermore at the far post who blasted at keeper Lee Harrison. The ball spun free in the six yard box and Spillane stabbed it over the line only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.

Luton began the afternoon shooting uphill on the infamous Underhill slope and things went downhill from the 15th minute when Barnet took control of the half.

Firstly a strong run from Barnet's Yannick Bolasie almost had an end product when his long range shot took a deflection and looped onto the top of Dean brill's crossbar.

Then two minutes from the break, after a long spell of pressure, Barnet went ahead. It came from a free kick at the edge of the area that the Bees bought everyone forward for.

In a packed penalty area no-one picked up veteran defender Gary Breen who peeled off to the far post. His header was pushed onto the post by Brill but it bounced to Adam Birchall who slammed in from three yards.

When the half time whistle went Hatters were hanging on, so Harford's teamtalk must have been inspired as four minutes after the restart the same 11 were level courtesy of a goal that had more than a sense of deja vu about it.

Spillane was the provider, sending a long ball over the top of the Bees defence. Jarvis timed his run to perfection and, similar to Frenchman Claude Gnakpa's winning goal at Wembley, the midfielder beat the on-rushing goalkeeper to the ball and lobbed it into an empty net.

After setting up the equaliser on-loan Norwich City defender Spillane was swapped for winger Ian Henderson and the versatile Keith Keane moved to right back.

A fine counter attacking move finally cut Barnet open on 65 minutes as Luton looked for the win. Hall put Jarvis clean through down the right wing and he squared into the box for Craddock. Only the timely intervention of Breen could deny the Hatters' striker's near post shot which was smothered by the centre half.

The home side's earlier dominance seemed a distant memory as they struggled to contain Harford's men, let alone push for a winner. But they were handed a golden opportunity on 75 minutes when they were awarded a penalty.

Davis' late lunge into the back of Albert Adomah was instantly spotted by the referee who pointed to the spot despite the Luton protests.

Last season's top scorer at Kenilworth Road Furlong, on loan at Barnet from Southend, stepped up but couldn't beat former teammate Brill who palmed the shot away with a tremendous stretch that sent the away support wild.

The Luton fans cheers soon turned to jeers when skipper Nicholls saw red. Already on a booking, the midfielder got involved in an off the ball incident with Bolasie that earned a yellow for both of them and left Hatters a man down for the remaining 13 minutes.

Harford used his substitutes Sam Parkin and Jake Howells but it was Barnet's Breen who bizarrely picked up a yellow for time-wasting that infuriated the other set of supporters. As the final whistle blew it was no surprise to see the officials be the first people to leave the pitch.

Brill; Spillane (Henderson '52'), Pilkington, Asafu-Adjaye, Davis;

Hall, Livermore, Nicholls, Keane, Jarvis (Howells '90'); Craddock

(Parkin '84'). Subs: Roper, McVeigh.

Goals

Barnet: Birchall '43'

Luton: Jarvis '49'

Bookings

Barnet: Bolasie '77', Breen 89'

Luton: Nicholls '8', '77' (red)

Attendance: 2,808

Referee: Dean Whitestone (Northamptonshire)