Whalley nets first league goal in 417 days...and more interesting facts!
7 – Victory on Saturday was the Town’s seventh straight home success in League 2. What’s more during this sequence the Hatters have conceded just one goal – against Dagenham & Redbridge on 21st October. Last season the Town recorded a run of 13 successive home League wins which began on 17th September with victory over Dartford and ended on 17th March following defeat to Woking.
13 – Saturday scorers Paul Benson and Shaun Whalley were the 12th and 13th different Luton players to find the target this season. Last season that figure was 17 (in Conference games only).
417 – Whalley’s first goal was his first League goal for the Hatters since scoring an equalising penalty in the 3-3 draw at Aldershot on 8th October last year – a period of 417 days. It wasn’t the first time the winger had scored at Kenilworth Road, though: the former Southport man scored in the Town’s 2-0 FA Trophy replay victory over Staines in December last year.
8,418 – Saturday’s crowd was the Town’s sixth highest attendance of the season, and was the fourth biggest crowd of the 21 matches played in the bottom two divisions of the Football League. Only crowds at Swindon, Barnsley and Bradford bettered the 8,418 inside Kenilworth Road.
8 – The victory over Mansfield was the Town’s first in eight attempts against the Nottinghamshire side, with the Hatters failing to win any of the previous seven meetings against the Stags. The Town’s last win over Mansfield also came by a 2-0 scoreline. Goals from Danny Crow and Amari Morgan-Smith sealed all three points in a Conference Premier fixture in September 2010.