This may have been billed as a friendly but the Town supporters were in good voice throughout and the Leicester crowd, few and friendly, were clearly sympathetic to their hosts dreadful plight. The ones I spoke to prayed, like me, for a beloved City langushing in the third division for the first time but were not blind to the awfulness of Luton's plight. All agree that they have been shafted by the so called great, the so called good, and the callow and spineless sundry. Given the splendid pitch and the liveliness of their players one can only hope, probably in vain, that they get those 30 points back in the first ten games.
There were times in this game that you would have thought that would be easy. Early and late in the first half they dominated a supposedly superior opposition but, as is the way with such things, they scored their superb Matthew Spring strike just as Leicester were showing a rare bit of class and domination. To say that most of the first 45 minutes belonged to Luton would be an understatement. Okay Leicester hit the bar and once or twice splayed the ball along the ground with aplomb but, overall, Luton were worthy of a first half lead.
It looked totally different in the second half and to these biased eyes the old City of Filbert Street memories started to get on top. A well struck equaliser following some free flowing football was laced by a missed penalty from Steve Howard, well saved by the town goalkeeper, but for the first fifteen minutes Leicester were looking good for promotion when the season finally starts. But, he says, is this the first of many false dawns. Luton made a couple of changes, Leicester backed off, and a lively duo numbered 12 and 15 caused havoc with the visitors fragile defence. No more goals came and a draw was probably the right result but, on balance, Luton can feel the more satisfied.
I went along hoping to see a team that would instantly show that they would be playing in the wrong division this year. They may well be, there were a few flashes of class, but if they are then Luton Town, much the better team overall, must be awfully good. I reckon about 1500 turned up and all, in a variety of ways and emotions, had a good night. Leicester's No 7 impressed but, being a friendly, neither he nor their goal scorer was named. Only Matthew Spring got that accolade. He and this lovely club, being 30 points down, will pray for many more.

Roy Hall - 22nd July 2008
(Leicester City fan on a sunny night out giving £10 to Luton's plight.)