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Luton Town FC>Classic Matches

Nottingham Forest 2-1 Luton Town (FA Cup Final)
Date Played: May 1959

Nottingham Forest and Luton Town battled out the FA Cup final of 1959. Both sides were old established clubs; however they only had one major honour between them. Forest had won the FA Cup in their only other appearance in the final 61 years before- the same year that Luton entered the league. Luton did not have a manager at the time of this match and were led out at Wembley by their chairman. Forest took a 2-0 advantage after only 14 minutes however, in the 32nd minute, the scorer of the first goal was taken off with a broken leg. To their credit, the ten Forest players continued to play great football and Luton were only able to pull one goal back. Seven injuries during the match meant that eight minutes of injury time had to be played and the question of substitutes became the main topic for discussion.

Luton Town 3-2 Arsenal
Date Played – 24th April 1988

Arsenal took early control in this match, soaking up 14 minutes of continuous pressure. However Luton scored with their first attack. David Preece’s quickly taken free kick found its way to the skipper Steve Foster. He angled an assist to Brian Stein who buried the ball past the goal keeper John Lukic. Arsenal spent the remainder of the half in search for an equalizer however they almost went two down when Mick Harford came close from another counter attack. The early stages of the second half proved just as fruitless for Arsenal. However in the 72nd minute, Paul Davis sent a free kick into the penalty area. It was only half cleared by Luton’s Steve Foster and the ball reached Alan Smith whose low cross was turned in by Hayes to equalize. Four minutes later, Michael Thomas found Alan Smith free on his right and he thundered the ball in giving Arsenal a 2- 1 lead. Arsenal were awarded a penalty moments later, which Dibble saved. In the 83rd minute, Kingsley Black caught Gus Caesar in possession and passed to Brian Stein, whose low cross was headed home by a stooping Danny Wilson. With only a minute remaining, Ashley Grimes passed to Brian Stein who fired home the winner. Luton were the winners of the 1988 Littlewoods cup.

 

Nottingham Forest 3-1 Luton Town
League cup final – 1989

Luton once again reached the final during the 1988-89 season, as this time they met Nottingham Forest in the final. Forest ran out every comfortable winners 3-1 to win their first league cup in nine years. It was the second successive season that Ray Harford guided the Hatters in to the final as Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest came out on top.

Luton Town 3-3 Cardiff City
Date Played – 14th February 2006 (Championship match)

In what was one of the finest matches of the 2005 – 2006 season both Cardiff City and Luton Town went for goal at Kenilworth Road in a thrilling encounter that ended 3-3. Rowan Vine scored tow first half goals for Luton as they were looking at a comfortable victory however from the start of the second half, Cardiff city stormed back as Jason Koumas scored to make it 2-1. Luton took a commanding 3-1 lead on the hour mark through an own goal by Barker. However Scimeca answered back on the 71st minute to make it 3-2. Jason Koumas scored his second of the night late on to make it 3-3.

Reading 4-1 Luton Town
Date Played – May 1988 (Simod Cup Final)

Despite finishing the season off in 22nd place earning relegation in to the third division, Reading had reason to celebrate at the end of the 1987 – 1988 campaign. The Royals turned over first division club, Luton Town, in the final of the simod cup, to win the competition as they enjoyed a fine 4-1 victory. The Reading players that got on to the score sheet were Gilkes, Beavon, Tait and Smillie.

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