They get knocked down (but they get up again)
LUTON MEET FATE WITH PRIDE AND RESOLVE TO RETURN ONCE MORE
LUTON met their fate with pride, humour and the same problems which have haunted them all season.
Needing a miracle, they slipped to a fifth defeat in their last six games, conceding four times to a Fulham team with nothing to play for.
Only Sheffield United ended the season with more goals conceded than Luton’s 85.
A double from Raul Jimenez and further strikes from Adama Traore and Harry Wilson confirmed the inevitable for the Hatters.
Luton have often played some good football this season and scored decent goals of their own through Carlton Morris and Alfie Doughty.
But they went down managing only one win in their last 18 matches, and now face some difficult questions this summer.
Boss Rob Edwards was in tears after last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at West Ham.
That left Luton needing to win and overturn a 12-goal swing over Nottingham Forest to stay up.
And there was plenty of gallows humour going on with chants of, “We’re going to win 12-0!” from the home end.
But everyone already knew it was over and all the pre-match talk was about next season.
It’s going to be another summer of change at the Kenny with the club hoping to begin building work on a new stadium in the next few weeks.
Luton were still painting steps here 90 minutes before they kicked off the season as their bid to get a safety certificate signed off went to the wire.
Their survival fight didn’t quite go the distance – but they deserve huge credit for competing the way they did, especially on such a limited budget.
And their fans responded to the news that Forest had scored early by signing: “Watford away, ole ole!”
It all went flat when Traore took a touch on the edge of the box and then smashed home a shot which curled into the far corner.
But it wasn’t long before Calvin Bassey tripped Chiedozie Ogbene to concede a penalty, which Morris rolled home.
Luton couldn’t even make it to halftime level as Jimenez side-footed home a cross from Wilson in stoppage time.
And a glancing Jimenez header from a Harrison Reed free-kick after half-time essentially ended this one as a contest.
Doughty pulled one back with a freekick which found its way past Bernd Leno without touching anyone on the way in.
But Wilson promptly hit the crossbar for Fulham and then got the goal he deserved after a free-flowing move, firing in from 25 yards.
Tempers flared when Traore and Morris were booked for a flare-up sparked by the Fulham winger pushing Luton’s skipper into the boards.
And with 13 minutes to go Edwards made a sentimental substitution, handing reserve keeper James Shea his only taste of top-flight action this season.
LUTON (3-4-3): Kaminski 6 (Shea 76); Hashioka 5, Mengi (Johnson 17, 6), Osho 6; Ogbene 6 (Townsend 76), Chong 6, Lokonga 5, Doughty 7; Clark 7 (Mpanzu 70, 6), Morris 6, Adebayo 5 (Woodrow 76). FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno 6; Tete 6, Ream 7, Bassey 4, Robinson 7 (Ballo-Toure 78); Reed 7 (Cairney 75), Palhinha 6 (Castagne 90); Wilson 8, Iwobi 6, Traore 7 (Decordova-Reid 79); Jimenez 7 (Muniz 90).