Junior reporter Zac Neal provided his take on a hard-fought draw yesterday!
A sunny afternoon at Kenilworth Road saw Premier League and Europa League semi-finalists West Ham United take on Luton Town in a pre-season friendly.
Luton were unbeaten in pre-season so far and were hoping this would continue in what looked to be the toughest match so far.
It was a slow start to the game as both sides were trying to get possession of the ball and test the opposition. West Ham had started with a very strong line-up which included England internationals Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen.
Luton Town had a decent chance early on when Elijah Adebayo got past Ben Johnson and played a ball across the box to Harry Cornick. Luckily for West Ham, Aaron Cresswell cleared.
West Ham soon took the lead despite not having many chances. A lovely ball was whipped in by Aaron Cresswell and it went straight to Tomas Soucek who headed it into the back of the net to give West Ham the lead. The first half finished 0-1.
West Ham were straight back to business in the second half. Nikola Vlasic had a good opportunity to double West Ham’s lead but Ethan Horvath saved well. He then proceeded to make an excellent save from Jamaican striker Michail Antonio.
Luton Town needed to start taking more shots and trying different ways to penetrate the strong West Ham defence. Luton Town subbed Cauley Woodrow, Carlton Morris, Dion Pereira and Carlos Mendes Gomes on to try and test the West Ham back line.
The game had an interesting end to it with the Hatters piling the pressure on. This paid off as Luton Town equalised in injury time. This came from a short corner by Dion Pereira which was crossed in and flicked onwards by Dan Potts to the feet of Sonny Bradly who guided the ball past Alphonse Areola. The game finished 1-1.
This game marked the end of a fantastic end to pre-season for Luton Town. It meant Luton had gone unbeaten through all of pre-season. A big game awaits next Saturday when Birmingham City travel to Kenilworth Road for the first game of the 2022/23 EFL Championship season!
