By Match report: Town battle to earn well-deserved replay against Luton
Grimsby Town put in an excellent performance to claim a draw at Luton Town in the FA Cup fourth round.
Goals in either half from Gavan Holohan and Harry Clifton were enough to earn a replay for the Mariners against the Championship side.
Paul Hurst was forced into making five changes from the side that suffered a heavy defeat at Swindon two weeks ago, with captain Luke Waterfall, Anthony Glennon, Bryn Morris, Alex Hunt and Danilo Orsi all returning to the starting lineup.
The game started in bizarre fashion, as the sprinklers shot out of the ground just moments after the kick-off, bringing the contest to an early halt.
But once things got going again, Town’s much-changed side started well, pushing the hosts back on a couple of occasions and defending their own box stoutly.
Luton thought they’d taken the lead on 11 minutes through Tom Lockyer, who ghosted in behind the Mariners defence and nodded in following a sumptuous ball to the back post, but the linesman raised his flag in what looked like a tight decision.
Just minutes later, the visitors had their first effort on goal when a free-kick from the left found Holohan free at the back post and his tame header went straight at the keeper.
On 18 minutes, a long ball forward saw Elijah Adebayo, who was growing into the game, hit a half-volley over the bar from just inside the box.
The centre-forward then went close to giving his side the lead just past the midway point of the half when he connected with a looping ball towards the back post that Max Crocombe did well to divert around the post with his feet.
A neat Town move then led to Clifton laying the ball back to Morris, who struck a low effort from 25 yards towards Ethan Horvath’s left-hand corner and he did well to get down and hold onto the ball.
With nine minutes left to play of the half, some Luton pressure resulted in Harry Cornick finding space just inside the box, but his effort went sailing over the bar.
Holohan then won the ball 30 yards from goal and unleashed a lovely, dipping half-volley that a scampering Horvath did expertly well to tip over the bar.
The Mariners then took the lead from the resulting corner on 41 minutes when the Irish midfielder rose highest to nod the ball into the bottom corner from Glennon’s floated delivery into the middle of the box.
They then saw out the rest of the half well to head in a goal ahead at the break following a solid opening 45 minutes.
All of Town’s hard work in the first half, however, was undone just two minutes into the second half, as a clumsy tackle from Morris just inside the box resulted in a penalty being awarded. Adebayo stepped up and sent Crocombe the wrong way to level things up.
The visitors did well to compose themselves and a lovely move on 52 minutes saw Clifton fouled on the edge of the area, but Hunt’s resulting free-kicked went a few yards over the bar.
Town’s resilience was broken on 66 minutes when a ball into the box found Jordan Clark, with his half-volley just making its way past Crocombe and into the net despite the keeper getting a strong hand to it.
The Mariners showed character to respond to that setback instantly, as a flick on in behind the Hattters’ defence saw Clifton go one-on-one with the keeper and slot the ball into the opposite corner, sparking wild scenes in the visiting end.
With Luton pushing to restore the lead, a dangerous run down the right resulted in the ball being flashed across the box, but the diving Crocombe got a hand to the ball before one of the opposition’s forwards could bundle it home.
It was Town that nearly went back in front, though, as a ball pulled back found Clifton free inside the box and his low effort was cleared off the line by a covering defender before it was eventually cleared.
The Mariners saw out the remaining minutes superbly to earn a well-deserved replay and keep them in with a chance of making it through to the fifth round of the FA Cup.
