THE TOON 3 THE MAD HATTERS OF LUTON 1 *** FA CUP 3rd ROOND

Posted '11:11am bells' Sunday 7th January 2018

"The Toon' Wreck 

'The Mad Hatters' 

Tea Party!"

Tales of the unexpected happened when Rafa sent oot a near full strength team against Luton, when we fully expected a line up of fringe players!
Aalso we didnt expect a crowd of 47,000 plus, despite the fact that The Mad Hatters brought nearly 7,500 fans with them!

Neethaa did the programme publishers, who didnt print enough programmes, az they expected a crowd of 30,000 and subsequently sold oot lang before kick off time!
I woz lucky and managed to get mee hands on one just before they sold oot!

THE TOP DECK OF THE LEAZES END IZ FILLED WITH 'MAD HATTERS'!

The game kicked off and The Toon went straight for 'the jugular' az they attacked The Leazes goal where the Mad Hatters were housed on level 7 of the upper tier--their noisy fanbase stretched aroond the corner of the stand and well into The Milburn Stand!

After several missed chances we finally made the breakthrough on the half hour mark when the Luton keeper fumbled the baall, which fell nicely to the feet of Perez for a simple tap in!

Goal 2 came 6 mins later when again Perez woz on hand after a game of 'head tennis' in the Luton box and he had another easy chance to double wor advantage!

JONJO SHELVEY GOAL

(GEORDIE TIMES EXCLUUUSIVE!)

The thord goal in 9 minutes came just 3 minutes after the 2nd when  a neat 'one two' between Perez and Gayle foond Shelvey just inside the box and he wellied the baall past their dispairin' keeper to effectively wrap up the game and put us into the 4th roond draw on Munday!

WHEY! NOT EXACTLEEE!---this IZ NUFC after aall and not lang after the restart The Mad Hatters pulled one back when Woodman raced from hiz goal to get the baall---he DIDNT and Luton's Hylton had the simple task of hittin' the baall into an empty net to send 'The Tea Party Brigade' into 'party mode'!

ACTION NEAR THE MILBURN STAND

A disallowed goal and a 'bar hit' followed from wor visitors az they desperately tried to pull anothaa goal back az WE desperately defended for wor lives az the clock ticked doon!

WE did have othaa chances to put 'the game to bed' against wor BEDfordshire opponents (sic!), but we just couldn't get a 4th goal!

THE TOON ATTACK THE GALLOWGATE END (2nd half)

'It mattered not' az the clock finally ticked doon and to wor relief a replay doon at Luton woz not needed---(thank god, coz the place iz a dump!)

HAPPY TOON FANS CELEBRATE AZ GRANDSON JAMIE POSES FOR A PHOTO!

Toon team: Woodman, Manquillo, Lascelles (Hayden 31), Clark, Dummett, Richie, Shelvey (Diame 71), Merino (Saivet 80), Murphy, Perez, Gayle

Attendance: 47,069 includin' 7,450 Mad Hatters---wor highest FA Cup 3rd roond crowd since 56,569 torned up half a century ago, when we lost to Carlisle 1-0 in 1968 (I woz there!)
The Mad Hatters had the largest away followin' for a competitive game since Brightin brought 10,000 in 1979, when they won promotion to the top flight---(Rangers had 15,000 for a friendly in 2004) 

PS: For the benefit of wor overseas reeders, Luton's nickname iz 'The Hatters'---hence 'The Mad Hatters' headline!

The
"LET'S HAVE A BEVVY IN JANU-ERY AND FEBU-ERY!" 'crusade' continued in various locations before and after the match!
(In defiance of the 'Dry January Brigade'!) 

TOON FANS HAVIN' A 'BEER PARTY' AFTER THE MATCH

IN THE PREMIER INN!

Footnote: Watched 'Match of the Day' this mornin' and wor game
got precisely ONE MINUTE air time!---aall they showed were the
goals, (no replays!) and nowt else!(Aye I timed it!---1 minute for a programme that woz on for an hour and a half!)---While Lestaa'z goal-less draw at Fleetwood 
got FIVE TIMES az much air time!
(An utter disgrace!---bet if Luton had WON 3-1, it would have been
on for half an hour!)