Tigerish Town robbed by calamitous official

Luton Town 1 (0) Mansfield Town 1 (0) aet (agg 1-2)

WEMBLEY-BOUND Stags stole through to the final of the FA Trophy with a late equaliser – and tie winner - at a sun-drenched Kenilworth Road this afternoon, writes Mark Wood.

Nine-man Town played with passion and pride as they put in a valiant performance but were left to curse a calamitous refereeing performance from Graham Scott.

Not only did the official send off two Luton players late in normal time but he also awarded Mansfield a dubious penalty at the death in extra-time, which Louis Briscoe netted at the second attempt after former Mansfield favourite Kevin Pilkington had brilliantly saved his initial spot-kick.

The Hatters created all of the chances in normal time and levelled the tie through Lloyd Owusu’s fine strike at the start of the second half.

But a second visit to Wembley in two years wasn’t to be for Town’s vocal faithful as Claude Gnakpa was dismissed for a second yellow card on 84 minutes and was closely followed by Alex Lawless who received a harsh straight red for a challenge through the back of Kyle Nix.

And despite a super rearguard action from the Hatters the Stags were gifted a late winner to book their place in a Wembley final for the first time in 24 years.

Town made four changes to the team that laboured to a goalless draw at Cambridge United in the league on Tuesday night.

With Paul Carden and Robbie Willmott cup tied, Mark Tyler and Danny Crow also dropped to the bench as in came keeper Kevin Pilkington, midfielder Alex Lawless and Gnakpa and striker Matthew Barnes-Homer.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg the Hatters watered the still largely bald pitch before kick off to give it some added zip.

Good work from Barnes-Homer and Gnakpa in the opening seconds created a chance for Adam Newton, but having turned his man he could only fire wide.

A brilliant turn by Barnes-Homer saw him surge forward but his through ball didn’t run kindly for Owusu and Mansfield were able to clear.

The Stags looked to get forward at every opportunity with Tyrone Thompson’s curler being well fielded by Kevin Pilkington.

In an open start the Town went close again on 12 minutes. Lawless whipped in a teasing free-kick and as the combination of Zdenek Kroca and Luke Graham the keeper appeared to get a touch as the ball rebounded off a defender and Mansfield were able to clear.

Barnes-Homer was just unable to connect with an Owusu knockdown before the pair reversed roles and Owusu just couldn’t get on the end of Barnes-Homer’s cross.

A great chance then went begging on 19 minutes as Owusu again fluffed lines. Barnes-Homer raced on to Lawless’ first time pass and pull-back picked out Owusu but he miskicked with the goal gaping.

Town began to turn the screw and were twice desperately unlucky no to level the tie on 27 minutes. First Owusu somehow squeezed out a shot in a crowded penalty that beat David Grof but hit the left-hand upright and span agonisingly across the face of goal before Mansfield cleared.

Gnakpa then unleashed a thunderbolt that was well beaten away by Grof before Danny Mitchley raced clear at the other end but lost all his composure and chipped tamely into the grateful arms of Kevin Pilkington.

But the Stags always looked dangerous and they almost broke the deadlock in this encounter on 33 minutes from their first corner.

Kevin Sandwith’s near-post header ran across the face of goal and Tom Naylor’s close range strike was blocked by a mass of Luton bodies with Paul Connor stabbing the rebound woefully wide.

Connor then produced lovely knockdown for Mitchley seven minutes before the break and the lively striker’s effort flash just wide.

It took the Hatters just 50 seconds to level after the break. Owusu did well to control a defensive header on the edge of the area before unleashing an unstoppable drive past the despairing dive of Grof.

Owusu then spurned another glorious opportunity to give the Hatters lead in the tie for the first time. Gnakpa’s reverse pass completely sold the Stags defence leaving Owusu with just Grof to beat. The experienced hitman tried to go round him and somehow contrived to lift his shot over the bar. A flailing elbow from Gary Silk seemed to catch Owusu in the face on 68 minutes although nothing was give and the Hatters made their first change moments later, bringing on Jason Walker for Newton.

With the game so evenly poised both sets of supporters were nervy and hearts were in the mouth for Hatters when Adam Smith flashed just wide on 71 minutes.

More fresh legs came in the form of Crow who replaced Owusu 77 on minutes, before disaster struck on with six minutes to go when Gnakpa slid in for a terrible challenge on Dan Spence. The referee was left with little alternative but to send the Frenchman off for his second booking, although manager Richard Money was left to curse the fourth official for not allowing him to have subbed him off in place of Amari Morgan-Smith seconds earlier.

An acrobatic Tom Naylor effort then dipped just over the bar with five minutes to go before things went from bad to worse with just a minute to go. Lawless challenged forcefully with his shoulder through the back of Nix and referee Scott raced to the scene and harshly brandished a straight red card to leave Luton with just nine men.

Five minutes of injury time were added but a winner couldn’t be found as the game went into extra-time.

And Town almost did the unthinkable and took the lead but Walker’s effort in the second minute went just wide.

Briscoe saw a header from a corner dip just over in the 102nd minute as brave Town defended deep while another Sandwith header drifted across the face of goal. Connor then rolled a shot straight at Kevin Pilkington deep into the first half of extra-time.

Briscoe curled wide on 108 minutes and Naylor thumped a fine effort straight at Kevin Pilkington two minutes later as Mansfield searched for a winner.

Graham produced a brilliant block to deny Briscoe before Mitchley dived to try and win a penalty but neither booking or a penalty was forthcoming.

A dangerous free-kick on the edge of the Luton area was curled just wide by Sandwith with six minutes to go and Smith blazed a long-ranger well over as valiant Town defended like tigers before referee Scott gifted the Stags victory with just two minutes to go.

George Pilkington flung himself into another block and Scott was the only person in the ground to believe he handled it on the way and pointed to the spot, much to the astonishment of the home crowd.

Briscoe fired the penalty high to the left but Kevin Pilkington threw himself to his right to produce a magnificent save but the ball popped back out and Briscoe was first to it to stab home.

Nine-man Town desperately poured forward to try and grab a winner, even slinging Kevin Pilkington into the box at one point, but it wasn’t to be.

Ugly scenes greeted the end with a stand-off between Stags directors and Luton fans in the main stand while a scarf and other small objects rained down on the referee as he was ushered off by the stewards.

Hatters: Kevin Pilkington, Keith Keane, Luke Graham, George Pilkington (C), Adam Newton (Jason Walker 69), Matthew Barnes-Homer (Amari Morgan-Smith 112), Zdenek Kroca, Alex Lawless, Jake Howells, Claude Gnakpa, Lloyd Owusu (Danny Crow 77). Substitutes not used: Mark Tyler, Godfrey Poku.

Stags: David Grof, Gary Silk, Kevin Sandwith, Louis Briscoe, Tyrone Thompson (C), Kyle Nix (Steven Istead 90+2), Tom Naylor, Dan Spence, Paul Connor, Ashley Cain (Adam Smith 23), Danny Mitchley. Substitutes not used: Alan Marriott, Stephen Foster, Paul Stonehouse.

Bookings: Gnakpa 24; Graham 57; Gnakpa 84; Walker 118; Crow 119.

Sent off: Gnakpa 84; Lawless 89.

Referee: G Scott.

Assistant referees: D Treleaven and A Gillett.

Fourth official: C Knowles.

Attendance: 6,133 (Mansfield 912).

Star Hatter: Keithe Keane. Tiger in the middle, looked like the Keane of old.