Own goals. They can be funny, or unfortunate, or both if you profit from them.
The 23rd January is a case in point. The Town have won their last three matches on this day in history and in all of them the Hatters have benefitted from own goals scored by the opposition. Thanks, guys.
Two years ago the Hatters were hunting for a way past the Hinckley United defence in an FA Trophy replay at Kenilworth Road. They were also attempting to keep a certain Andre Gray quiet at the other end. Eventually the breakthrough came, though, thanks to helping hand from Hinckley. Knitters midfielder Daniel Bragoli panicked and took a swipe of the ball in a desperate attempt to clear his lines in his own penalty area. It was a strike of real quality and it set the Town up nicely to go on and record a 3-0 win.
Bragoli’s effort was an example of the ‘great’ own goal, two years before that on this day, in 2010, the Town profited from a ‘groaner’ of an og. You know, it’s one you get up to celebrate 10 seconds after the ball has hit the net because you can’t quite believe how it’s got there in the first place. A trademark rampaging run down the right from Claude Gnakpa saw the Heed defence back-pedal and the Frenchman’s cross was fumbled over the line by goalkeeper Paul Farman. It was the only goal of the game and the Town celebrated a valuable three points. Click here to watch that game (and scroll through to 3:13).
Rewind to 2007, and the Town were in the Championship, struggling at the time admittedly, but on 23rd January some of the relegation gloom was alleviated thanks, once again, to a player not sporting Luton colours. With extra-time looming in an FA Cup third round replay at Kenilworth Road, QPR’s Zesh Rehman deflected a Dean Morgan shot into his own net and 7,000 Hatters fans celebrated victory and a place in the fourth round.