Snow didn’t stop Luton Town in the FA Cup

The painting, depicting fans on their way to watch Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park, was sold at auction in 1999 for the record price for a Lowry of £2million.

Lowry could easily have gained his inspiration for the 1953 picture from the scene, pictured, of a Luton Town match 20 years earlier.

Both show a football stadium surrounded by factory chimneys, but in the 1933 photograph from the Luton News archive, the match had already started.

It was the FA Cup 5th Round tie on February 18 when the Hatters beat Halifax 2-0 at the Yorkshire club’s home ground, The Shay.

The game would probably not have been played today because of the snow-covered pitch, but a crowd of 29,235, including a good following from Bedfordshire, turned up to see goals from Nelson and Tait take Luton through to the 6th Round.

To reach that far in the competition, the Hatters had beaten Kingstonian 3-2 (after a 2-2 draw), Stockport 3-2, Barnsley 2-0 (after a 0-0 draw) and Tottenham Hotspur 2-0.

But after beating Halifax, Luton were drawn against the mighty Everton, whose side included legendary goalscorer Dixie Dean.

The Merseyside club thrashed Luton 6-0 in front of a 55,431 crowd and after defeating West Ham in the sem-finals, they beat Manchester City 3-0 in the Wembley final.