Words cannot express just how pleased we all are that - after just eight seasons in senior football and several promotion campaigns - we have met our ambitious target of bringing FA Women's Premier League football to Luton Town.
Last season began with six straight wins which gave us incredible momentum to take into the winter months but, the run of bad weather and an FA Cup run - which ended only at the last 16 stage to the professionals of Blackburn Rovers - left us without a league match for almost three months.
By that time the early lead had evaporated and a couple of narrow defeats meant that the Ladies had it all to do if they were to win the League Championship and gain the single promotion spot available.
With eight games to go there was little room for error and convincing away wins at Welwyn Garden City and Cambridge City were followed by a set back against Wellingborough Diamonds.
With five games left it was clear that only five straight victories would be enough to gain the coveted prize. Title contenders Lewes were mercilessly torn apart in Sussex 5-1 and a bewildered Tottenham Hotspur were on the end of a 9-0 thrashing which brought the title within reach.
At that point the Town Ladies were given a much needed break from league action when they retained their County Cup title with a comfortable 4-0 win over Arlesey Town.
Norwich City were next in line and dominated possession for long periods without ever seriously bothering the Town goal before Candice Davies and Rebecca Kane gave Luton a 2-1 lead which was topped off by Micky Taylor`s penalty to make it 3-1.
A difficult return match against Welwyn was evenly balanced at 0-0 when the referee abandoned the match due to a serious injury to the City keeper just after the interval and a new date had to be found.
The last scheduled opponents were Gillingham and the journey to Kent was a nervous one. Michelle Byrne gave Luton an early lead but, although we dominated for long periods, the Gills did have half chances and it took another Micky Taylor penalty to make sure of the points to ensure the Ladies completed an incredible 100% away record for the season.
With one game to go all that was required on 10th May were the three points in the rescheduled home game against Welwyn. Nerves were jangling but were settled by long range strikes from Nicky Livingstone and Micky Taylor for a 2-0 half time lead.
Leading goal scorer Rebecca Kane scored a rare headed goal minutes into the second half and then went on to complete her hat trick in a crushing 5-0 win.
Post match celebrations were somewhat muted but we had now set Enfield Town the highly unlikely target of a 22 goal winning margin away to Gillingham in their last game. They failed to even win that game drawing 2-2 and Luton Town became a Premier League club by a two point margin.
The first four fixtures present us with a real challenge as we begin the campaign with three away matches to Newcastle United, Liverpool and Aston Villa, with a home match with Manchester City in between.
The Northern Division is considered to be a much tougher challenge than the Southern Division which should stand us in good stead for a hopefully long stay in the Premier League.
Tonight during the half time break the Ladies will be parading their Championship trophy around the pitch so please show your support to them.
Dave Baker
