Kenilworth Road: Luton Town 1-1 Plymouth Argyle

Luton Town 1-1 Plymouth Argyle

A Championship relegation battle was on the cards as Luton Town took on Plymouth Argyle on a Wednesday Night under 'The Kenny' lights. Following relegation from the Premier League, the hosts are on the verge of back to back relegations with the Hatters currently sitting bottom of the Championship. Whilst struggling in the league, Argyle recently beat Premier League table toppers, Liverpool knocking them out the FA Cup which, if anything, should give the team some confidence. This is likely to be myself and Adrian's last visit to Kenilworth Road before they pull it down and relocate to a brand new stadium at Power Court off the town centre. We set off from Adrian's house at around 3pm making the steady journey down the M1 South before arriving at around 4.30pm parking the car on Shaftesbury Road. We took a short walk to 'The Kenny' to take a few photos whilst we had some daylight. Hemmed in by houses and roads, its safe to say Luton Town have just about used every last bit of space available over the years and the old ground is now looking very dated these days. How on earth Premier League football was played here the season before we'll never know! We walked into the town centre to find somewhere to eat. Firstly, we tried a Wetherspoons however due to lack of tables, we went with Plan B which was a McDonald's on George Street. Whilst sat in McDonald's, I had a look on Google Maps to see where Luton's new stadium was going to be built. To my amazement and by chance, it was surprisingly only a 10 minute walk from where we were in the town centre rather than the outskirts of the town (like most new stadiums!). Even though it was already dark, we thought we'd check out where it will be ready for our next visit to Luton! After our brief visit to Power Court, we made our way back towards 'The Kenny' walking through Luton Point shopping centre back towards the town hall square and along the A505 towards Kenilworth Road where the matchday atmosphere was already building with the surrounding streets lit up from the towering floodlights. An old fashioned ground and an old fashioned style game. High on effort, low on quality though. The ball spent a lot of time in the air, old fashioned defending, if the ball is anywhere near the penalty it was literally row Z or a long punt down field away from danger. Challenges flying in, lots of free kicks however a little surprised there were not many bookings. Three divisions separated these two clubs last season, Argyle being promoted from League One while the Hatters enjoyed one season with the rich and famous in the Premier League. The Luton side of today has changed quite a bit from that glory season which saw Pep and Jurgen arrive at the Kenny, that includes the manager but quite why Matt Bloomfield would leave Wycombe who are doing well in League One for the faltering Luton remains up for question. Luton overall were the better side they had the games best player in Alfie Doughty he showed why he didn’t disgrace himself in the Premier League having an excellent left foot. Neither keeper had much to do despite the blood and thunder. Argyle had the ball in the net in the first half through Callum Wright but immediately the linesman put his flag up for offside. The replay suggests Wright was unlucky to have the goal ruled out with him being level with the last defender. In the second half, the managerial master stroke, Luton subbed a disappointing Adebayo for Jacob Brown and 23 seconds after coming on he stooped to head home after Nordas had flicked on Doughty's deep cross to make it 1-0 to the hosts. But Luton couldn’t find a second goal and Plymouth seized on this chance. The home side were left fielding 10 men after McGuiness had to leave the field for treatment and Argyle took full advantage. A quick throw followed by a cross from the left with the right foot of Szucs and the imposing Ukrainian Talovievov headed home at the far post from a yard out in front of the travelling support. Neither side could fashion a winner which won’t help either. Plymouth will head back to Devon the happier. The happiest teams around though will be their relegation rivals Derby, Hull and Cardiff. Luton despite their dominance in large spells didn’t win, a problem they have had all season and despite the excitement and effort put in by both sides you suspect both may not have enough to stay up. Plymouth were promoted 2 years ago and operate with a low budget compared to many in the division. For Luton Town a second successive relegation is now a serious possibility. After the match, we ran back to the car on Shaftesbury Road before making our way out of Luton and back onto the M1, this time heading northbound to the East Midlands. A slight hindrance to our journey home due to roadworks saw us take the A5 from Daventry all the way back to Leicestershire. We arrived back at Adrian's house at around 11.15pm before making the final leg of my journey and arriving home just before 11.45pm.

Luton Town 1-0 Tranmere Rovers

Luton Town over the last 10 years has experienced both the highs and lows of football. Only 10 years ago, Luton Town won promotion to the Championship from League 1 under then manager Mike Newell. After a season in the Championship, Luton were relegated into League 1 and from there saw their sudden decline. Luton went into administration which saw the deduction of 10 points and the relegation from League 1. Luton supporters probably thought it couldn’t get any worse... but it did. Luton, now finding themselves in League 2, were deducted 30 points (20 for administration exit without a Company Voluntary Arrangement, and 10 for making illegal payments to agents). With such a hefty punishment, they were inevitably relegated out of the Football League. Following a 5 year stint in the Conference, they were promoted back to the Football League in 2013-14.

I (Ross) left at 8am making my way down the A50 to Leicester where I met up with Adrian and we then made our way down the M1.

Being the closest remaining journey, we found a few non-league stops which we were yet to visit. Our first stop of the day was Newport Pagnell Town who play at Willen Road. Willen Road has a capacity of just over 500 and is set back from the M1 not far from Milton Keynes.

Our next stop was Leighton Town. We drove through Milton Keynes driving past where the National Hockey Stadium once stood and Stadium:MK. Not long after, we were in the town of Leighton Buzzard. Leighton Town play at Bell Close where we were given a guided tour of their quaint Bedfordshire home with thanks to their kind ground staff.

Next were Leighton Town’s local rivals, Dunstable Town who play at smartly redeveloped Creasey Park. Photos proved to be challenging due to the dense fog. The refreshments menu at Creasey Park proved to be amusing listing Barry’s Fries after their previous manager, Barry Fry.

The short journey over the M1 from Dunstable was the village of Barton-le-Clay. Situated here is Barton Rovers who play at Sharpenhoe Road. Sharpenhoe Road has an unusual stand on the side which consists of 5 small stands slopping down the pitch.

With all our stops complete, we made our way to Luton looking to park up at the earliest opportunity. We attempted parking a few streets away from the ground on Wimborne Road. Unfortunately the streets around there were either residential parking or there was no space to park. We therefore made our way towards the Dunstable Road and parked on Shaftesbury Road which is only a 10 minute walk from the ground.

We collected our tickets and made our way towards the town centre looking for somewhere to eat. We eventually found a Toby Carvery in the town centre where we tucked into our warm lunches and our pints of bitter and cider.

Once we finished our lunches, we walked back to the ground, took photos outside before making our way firstly through the old membership card turnstiles which remains abandoned following the late 80’s riot and into the ground via the main turnstiles.

The concourse remains, like many parts of Kenilworth Road, unchanged. A trip to Kenilworth Road is not a trip most visiting supporters enjoy. It’s a ground short on facilities with many obstructed views.

The ground is hemmed in by a relief road (a former railway line) and numerous narrow streets and terraced houses. The latter reminding us of Filbert Street, Leicester.

It's a style of ground that has mostly disappeared from the Football League and is a reminder how grounds and facilities used to be.

For most, the access to the ground will be off the Dunstable Road, a congested main road leading to the M1. There is a large ethnic community living in the area and is thriving full of various ethnical shops.

We couldn't help but notice the amount of furniture dumped in front gardens and pathways. Walking down the streets, the small front garden areas were often a convenient dumping ground. The favourite was an old settee with a cheap bed frame a close second apart from each other.

Indeed in the narrow alleyway behind the executive boxes, which runs the length of one side of the ground (or are they beach huts?) there were several bed frames, mattresses, a gold coloured three piece suite and cheap bed side drawers creating an obstacle for passing supporters and even police officers.

Kenilworth Road has a capacity of around 10,300. The ground is known for the famous plastic pitch between 1985 and 1991, the unusual entrance to the Oak Road End (similar to the previous Burnmoor Street turnstiles at Leicester City’s Filbert Street), and the five-season ban on away supporters that Luton Town imposed following a riot by visiting fans in 1985. The floodlights were fitted in 1953, and the ground became all-seated in 1986. The record attendance of 30,069 was set in 1959, in an FA Cup sixth round replay against Blackpool. Looking at Kenilworth Road today, it’s amazing how they fitted that many people into such a small area! The original Main Stand burnt down in 1921, and was replaced by the current stand before the 1922–23 campaign. The new Main Stand was split into two: the upper tier contained wooden seats, so there was a ban on smoking in the stand; the lower tier, which became known as the Enclosure, was terracing (now containing plastic benches). The decision was taken to renovate the stadium, already in disrepair, and work began in the late 1930’s. The Kenilworth End terrace was extended, the Oak Road End received a roof (still remaining today!) and major work was done on the Main Stand. Following the rejection of several potential sites for a new ground, the club finally turned their attentions back to the maintenance of Kenilworth Road. The first real modernisation of the ground came in 1973, with the first addition of seats at the stadium since the construction of the new Main Stand in 1922. The Bobbers Stand became all-seated (now executive boxes), while the rest of the ground remained terracing. Following the riot of 1985 when Millwall hooligans vandalised the ground, a £1 million refubishment went under way in with the introduction of artificial turf, as well as the conversion of the ground to all-seater, which began a year later in 1986. The Oak Road End was filled with seats, while the Bobbers Stand had its seats ripped out to be replaced with executive boxes. The Main Stand's enclosure received seats, and work also began on converting the Kenilworth Stand, which had a roof added at this time. The stand would also receive seats in stages over the coming years. The David Preece Stand, a small hemmed in stand in the corner of the main stand and Kenilworth stand, was erected in 1991. The final improvements to the ground came in 2005, when the conversion of the Kenilworth Stand to all seater was finally completed.

A very watchable game with both sides prepared to attack, therefore maybe a little surprising that we only saw one goal.

What a goal it was though scored by Hatters’ sub Ricky Miller. He wrong footed the defender and fired home a left foot shot on the turn which Brezovan in the Tranmere goal could only parry onto the post and watched agonisingly as the ball ricocheted over the line.

Our man of the match though was the Luton Town goalkeeper Mark Tyler who made two crucial saves at vital moments.

His first in the first 5 mins denied Danny Johnson and his second in the 90th, a brilliant reaction save to a downward header to deny Odejayi, the Rovers sub.

Someone on the local radio compared it to a Gordan Banks - Pele moment, there was a similarity.

Overall Luton just about deserved their win, they had the best chance in the first half, Gutteridge forcing a good save from the Tranmere keeper and in the second both sides had many good chances to score but a lack of composure, a miss placed pass or a poor delivery from a set piece proved costly.

Luton returned to the top of the division with the win while Tranmere, relegated from League 1 last season, are languishing second bottom. Nevertheless with a new manager at the helm in Micky Adams and the enterprise they showed all would suggest they will be moving up the table sooner rather than later.

The crowd of over 9,000 generated a good atmosphere.

We moved seats as we had an issue similar to our visit to Roots Hall. We had an obstructed view and had water dripping on us from the aging roof (and it wasn't raining!)

We returned to the car eventually. The alleyway behind the executive box stand was closed off by police preventing any trouble so we made our way back to the car through the dimly lit streets.

We were about to turn left off the Dunstable Road until we saw a mass of youths running down the side streets. We avoided them and continued running up Dunstable Road and back up to Shaftesbury Road.

When we got to the car, we listened to BBC Three Counties radio who was reporting trouble in Kenilworth Road caused by Tranmere players warming down 20 minutes after final whistle by making gestures to the Luton crowd from the pitch. Thankfully the trouble died down and didn’t turn into a re-run of the Millwall match of 1985.

Our journey out of Luton was slow unfortunately but having finally got to the M1 junction 11 we were back in Leicester for about 6:20pm.

91 complete and 1 to go! Our final ground will be Gillingham in a couple of week’s time against Port Vale which will mark my (Ross) 92nd.

Kenilworth Road is probably one of the worst remaining grounds in the country and it’s safe to say they won’t be there for many more years.

Kenilworth Road

Thursday, 20 February 2025

Luton Town 1-1 Plymouth Argyle

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