Luton recapture winning ways at Woodford

The home side had enjoyed a spell of good fortune, defeating Ipswich and Brentwood in recent weeks but fell victim to a resurgent Luton back line. Tesh Edwards, Johnny Wright and a double from debutant centre Tabo Maderi completed the scoring for Luton, who also secured their second away win of the season.

Maderi said after the game: “It feels good having my first run out with the boys. It was really exciting just to be out there and to come out with two tries; it’s a really good feeling.”

Within the early minutes of kick off, Luton were awarded a penalty but Hobbs hadn’t yet found his kicking boots, striking the ball wide of the posts.

In the ninth minute, Johnny Wright capitalised on a spilled pass to extend his impressive try scoring form.

Luton continued inflicting their field supremacy and were successful through Maderi and Edwards. The duo’s pace proved too much to handle for Woodford as Maderi sprinted to record his first try on 27minutes before setting up Edwards, who galloped to the try line and with Hobbs scoring two from two Luton were almost out-of-site at 0-19.

It was at this point Woodford began to find their feet and quickly replied with a try of their own. After mounting pressure, a well threaded pass exposed Luton’s right wing and Alex Pollock didn’t need a second invitation. The conversion missed the teams went into the break, Woodford 5-19 Luton.

Early in the second half, Luton came out all guns blazing and Edwards thought he had scored again. However, referee Matthew Dunn disallowed the points as scrum half Tom Mahendran and Alex Pollock got into an altercation with one another.

Just minutes later, Pollock was again involved in another confrontation this time with Craig South. The referee rewarded Pollock with a yellow card and a period in the sin bin.

In the 55th minute, Edwards was again darting towards the Woodford back line and teed up Johnny Wright for his second of the afternoon. A surprise change in kickers saw Scott Aspinall step forward for the conversion but he struck it wide.

As tensions and bad blood continued to boil over, Ben Murphy was sent to the sin bin. Woodford followed up in the 75th minute by scoring a push over try but Pete Hyett could not follow up. (10-24)

Luton’s Sean Meddeman was the next casualty at Highams Park, leaving the field holding his right leg before a hideous collision between Mahendran and Matt Barrett left Barrett unconscious for over a minute and had to be stretched off the field with Paramedics rushing to the scene.

Maderi added a late try and Aspinall followed up successfully with his conversion to secure a well-deserved victory. Woordford 10-31 Luton.

Luton RFC’s skill coach Chris Parr was euphoric to see his side get back to winning ways: “We’ve had a disappointing few weeks, results wise. Performance wise, it’s a step in the right direction. The first half was good, some really slick tries and good runs. In the Second half, I think there was a little lack of discipline.”

Speaking on the impactful debut of youth player Tabo Maderi, he added: “He’s been at the club for a long time and a few of us have been itching to see him play. He is a natural winger with pace and scored two tries on his debut; I don’t think you can ask for much more than that."

After a week’s break, Luton will play away to Barking RFC on 31st January while Woodford entertain Letchworth Garden City.

Farhan Daw
Match reporter