It's now just 33 days until the Hatters begin their Blue Square Premier adventure on Saturday 8th August so our man with the stats, Simon Pitts, takes a look at the number 33:
33 - Is the number of League appearances made by Kurt Nogan and Ray McKinnon. Coming through the ranks at Luton Nogan made his debut against Liverpool at Anfield on 13th January 1990, and scored! One other goal followed that season, in a 2-1 win at Wimbledon, in nine further appearances. Nogan made just one starting appearance, and a further eight from the bench in the 1990/91 league campaign, without scoring. In his final season for the Hatters, before a transfer to Brighton, he featured 14 times in the league and scored just once, in a 2-2 draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday, when a certain Mick Harford scored the other! McKinnon was signed from Dundee United and made his debut in the opening day victory at Wycombe in August 1998. He scored just two goals in his 33 League appearances, and played his last match for the Hatters on 11th September 1999 in a 3-1 win at home to Wrexham.
33 - Is the number of FA Cup appearances made by Ricky Hill, which is the third most by a player for Luton, behind Mal Donghy (36) and Bob Morton (48). Hill played his first FA Cup match against Oldham Athletic on 7th January 1978, and didn't score his first FA Cup goal for another five years.
It was a 3-0 victory at home to Peterborough, and Hill scored a brilliant solo goal after Brian Horton had opened the scoring. Hill scored his final FA Cup goal in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal on 15th February 1986, and made his final appearance on 7th January 1989 in a 3-2 defeat at Millwall.
33 - Jack Taylor was the first player to finish his Luton career with 33 goals in all competitions. He managed this from 91 appearances from 1948-52. He scored on his debut against Lincoln City in a 6-0 win, but it wasn't until his final season that he really found the goals, netting 24 goals in 42 League and FA Cup appearances. Billy Bingham scored eight League goals, and six FA Cup goals in his debut season of 1958/59. He scored a further 16 goals in the following League season, from 40 appearances, and then added just three goals from eleven appearances in 1960/61. Rowan Vine joined Luton on a season long loan from Portsmouth and was a key player in the League One Championship winning side of 2004/05. He featured in all but one League match and netted nine goals.
The following season, having made his move permanent, Vine netted 10 goals in 31 League appearances. In 2007/08 Vine started 26 matches and netted 12 times, with a further 2 goals coming in Cup competitions. His last goal was actually scored on his last appearance in a Luton shirt, a 2-2 FA Cup 3rd Round draw at Queens Park Rangers on 6th January 2007. Kevin Nicholls will be looking to add to his current tally of 33 goals in a Luton shirt. He scored his first goal at home to Oxford United in a 1-1 draw on 8th September 2001, and netted a further five goals that season, four of which were from the penalty spot. Five more League goals followed in 2002/03, and just two the season after. In 2004/05, Nicholls netted twelve League goals, and one in both the FA and League Cups. In 2005/06 Nicholls scored five goals in the League and also scored a penalty in the FA Cup match against Liverpool.
33 - Is the lowest points tally Luton have recorded from a 46 match League season. In 1964/65 the Hatters won 11 matches and drew the same number, losing 24. This was of course under the two points per win system, as was the 33 points Luton finished the 1974/75 season on. This time only 42 matches were played with the same wins/draws record as 1964/65, and four less draws.
