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VENUE Kenilworth Road ATTENDANCE 8,499 REFEREE Graham Salisbury (Preston) MATCH DATE 20 March 2004 KICK OFF TIME 15:00

LUTON TOWN Morten Hyldgaard   Keith Keane   Emmerson Boyce   Chris Coyne   Curtis Davies 48   Alan Neilson   Kevin Nicholls Paul Hughes   Steve Robinson   Peter Holmes Steve Howard Enoch Showunmi   Dean Crowe 87   SUBS NOT USED Ahmet Brkovic   Dean Brill   Ian Hillier

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE Luke McCormick   Paul Connolly   Graham Coughlan   Paul Wotton   Peter Gilbert   David Norris   David Friio Steve Adams   Tony Capaldi   Martin Phillips 54   Mickey Evans   Blair Sturrock 77   Nathan Lowndes   Marino Keith 77   SUBS NOT USED Lee Hodges   Hasney Aljofree

Match Report	20 March 2004
Luton Town 1 - 1 Plymouth Argyle

LUTON TOWN 1 Chris Coyne '42  PLYMOUTH ARGYLE 1 Steve Adams '90

LAST GASP ADAMS HEADER SHATTERS HATTERS...

Steve Adams rescued a point for Division Two leaders Plymouth Argyle with a dramatic injury-time equalizer to break the hearts of Luton Town.

The Hatters had taken the lead through Chris Coyne but played most of the second-half with ten men after Kevin Nicholls was sent off for elbowing Nathan Lowndes – although it looked a very dubious decision as the Pilgrims striker appeared to have run into Nicholls’ arm rather than anything more sinister.

Adams' late goal means caretaker-manager Kevin Summerfield is still unbeaten in his four matches after he took over following Paul Sturrock's decision to join the Premiership Southampton.

"Luton took the lead just before half-time"

Luton took the lead just before half-time when a Steve Robinson free-kick found Chris Coyne and he dived to head the ball past Luke McCormick.

The Hatters had deserved their lead as Emmerson Boyce had hit the post and Steve Howard was unlucky when his deflected effort narrowly went past the post.

Plymouth midfielder David Friio should have scored but missed from a close range header and was later booked when he dived to the floor in the penalty area under no challenge.

Both sides struggled throughout the match to control the ball due to the heavy wind that made passing very difficult.

The second-half started controversially as Luton were reduced to ten men when Nicholls was dismissed.

Home goalkeeper Morten Hyldgaard was adjudged to have held onto the ball for ten seconds and referee Graham Salisbury awarded an indirect free-kick in the penalty area.

Lowndes tried to take it quickly but clashed with Nicholls and fell to the floor.

Luton players surrounded the referee claiming that Lowndes had made a lot of the challenge, but Mr. Salisbury showed Nicholls the red card for serious foul play.

"Before Adams bundled the ball home with the last kick of the match"

Luton defended bravely for the rest of the game and appeared to have secured the points before Adams bundled the ball home with the last kick of the match.

Newell's Comments	20 March 2004
Luton Town 1-1 Plymouth Argyle "I think the reaction of the Luton fans says it all with regards to the Kevin Nicholls sending off to be quite honest, they believe the lad Lowndes went down and made a meal of it, I don’t know because I didn’t see him put his forearm in his face as the referee says, but the lad definitely made a meal of it and that is the most disappointing thing for me today – it’s just not a man’s game anymore. If someone actually assaults you or is guilty of violent conduct then yeah - but I didn’t see it like that. “I went up to Peter Gilbert of Plymouth at half-time because he went down under a challenge from Howard and he hadn’t even caught him and I don’t see why you should lie on the floor. They do it to get the lad booked, that’s what they do it for and if the lad hasn’t caught him, he should jump up straight away and he wasn’t injured and it was a similar situation just after half-time. “The free-kick that the referee gave to Plymouth for Morten Hyldgaard taking too long to kick it resulted in Nicholls’ sending off, I just don’t see those free-kicks given and I watch a million games a week including those that you see on television and I think sometimes they just want to make a game of it. The one that especially annoyed me was the free-kick the referee gave in injury-time that led to their corner that they scored from, I didn’t see that as a foul and I think sometimes the referee’s like to make a game of it in injury-time. ”Kevin Nicholls said he put his forearm up and the lad ran into him and he hasn’t actually hit him, or he doesn’t feel as though he went to hit him and we’ll have to have a look at that on the video and then we’ll decide what we’ll do and obviously it is disappointing as the lads have had to struggle on with ten men and if it could have been avoided, it is very disappointing, but my first impression is the lad has gone down and made a meal of it. “I’ve spoken to the referee after the match and I asked him what the free-kick was for and he said the free-kick was given as he had it in his hands for ten seconds so I asked him why he didn’t blow after seven or eight seconds if they are the rules? They make it what they want to make it and he’s asked me to go away and look at the video, but it’s too late as if you look at the video and it wasn’t a free-kick and the lad shouldn’t have been sent off, it’s too late, we’ve played a whole half with ten men. “The players run themselves into the ground, so we can’t fault them one little bit and they had another team beaten at the top of the League – as they had QPR beaten - and it just becomes a real sickener when it is the last kick of the game, not just the last minute or the last ten minutes, but the last kick of the game. “Chris Coyne went over on his ankle and basically the half-time killed him and we’ll have to see how it is on Monday but Coynie isn’t the sort of player who wouldn’t carry on with an injury, so it is not looking good, Howie has had stitches on him at half-time and gone out and carried on, Keith Keane has played with a dead leg and Morten has had a couple of jabs in his shoulder, and they’re all willing to play with injuries, but I just hope these injuries don’t all catch up with us. “They were difficult conditions and I think we had the better of the first-half and we deserved our lead and Plymouth had a lot of the ball and a lot of the play as we had ten men, but what you would say is they keep going and if they keep scoring late winners or late equalisers late on then they’ll have a good chance of winning this League. “It could go down to the last game for the play-off places and that is usually the case! There are a lot of teams competing for the play-off places and we’ll just have to keep going and I just hope it doesn’t catch up with us injuries-wise and when we play the seven games in 21 days that’s a big ask and I have still got faith in my players particularly after what I’ve seen against the top teams. ”It was a toss-up between Curtis Davies and Ian Hiller on who to replace Coynie at half-time and he hasn’t done himself any harm at all, Curtis. “We’re going to have to see how the bad the injury situation is after today and hopefully we can get a few players back for the final weeks.”

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