Tims 92

Luton Town

Kenilworth Road

Ground No. 71

Visited - Saturday 10th September 2005
Result - Luton Town 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Competition - Coca-Cola Championship
Attendance - 10,248

It had been over 6 months since I’d last visited a new ground with Wolves, and although having done quite a few new ones as neutral matches, there’s nothing quite like watching your own team at a strange venue, and with Kenilworth Rd quite definitely in the ‘old school’ category, then I was looking forward to the match as we set off for the journey south.

Because of picking up someone up from Oxford, we’d decided to drive down to Luton, so went the rather strange (and longer) way of down the M40, before heading across the home counties, the journey wasn’t that bad though, although it was gone 2pm when we finally found a parking space on the car park of a local supermarket, so after leaving the car, it was a quick dash up to the ground to get some pictures before it got too packed.

It's well documented how tightly hemmed in Kenilworth Road is, but until you actually get to the ground itself, you don’t quite realise how bad it is. We arrived at the home end of the stadium, where the turnstiles for both the Kenilworth Road and Main Stands are, although they in themselves are quite strange in that there are two sets of turnstiles for fans to pass through. Firstly an exterior set, before in the stands themselves a second set. What the purpose of this is, is anybody’s guess, but it was just one of the many unique features of the ground that helps set it apart from the other 91 league grounds. After having seen this end, we went off down the tight alley that backs onto the Executive Boxes, before coming out at the opposite end of the ground, into Oak Road, where the away turnstiles are located. I’d been looking forward to seeing these, as a lot of people seemed to make a fuss about them being situated in people’s houses, (or what used to be houses), so I was a little disappointed really to find that they weren’t overly special, and certainly no different to what can be found at Highbury for example, however once you do go through them, and up the stairs into the rear of the stand, then if it isn’t evident beforehand, then you really do notice how tightly packed in the ground is, as you are walking above peoples gardens, which is quite a strange experience.

Inside the ground, we were in the Oak Road Stand, which was a fair sized stand, being a former terrace with seats put on, and having several supporting pillars keeping up the 3 roofs that kept fans under cover. Despite perhaps fearing the worst from this description, the stand isn’t actually as bad as it perhaps could be. Facilities are of a decent standard, and with the unreserved seating, we managed to find a good seat offering as good a view as you can get of the action. The one downside to the ground though, is the legroom. I’m not the tallest of blokes, but even I would end up struggling as the afternoon wore on, with the space between rows surely being the worst in the country. As for the rest of the ground, well, where do you start! Everywhere you look, the ground just oozes character, and reminds you of times gone by, where stadiums weren’t all just cheap imitations of each other. To our left was the famous row of executive boxes, again, like with the away end, they were a lot better than I’d been led to believe beforehand, and they certainly add character to the ground, not looking that bad at all really. Opposite was the Kenilworth Road End, another former terrace, and with a sloping roof it has an almost menacing look about it, with the seats heading up as far back as you can see before the roof takes over. It isn’t the biggest stand in the world, but certainly looks like one of the stands that has a far bigger capacity than you would think. To our right was the Main Stand, this was in fact two stands, with the older half nearest to us, which was two-tiered, with another interesting looking roof, supported by numerous pillars, and in the lower tier it had bench seating, which certainly looked different to the normal plastic sort. The newer extension to the stand was at the Kenilworth Road End, and filled in the corner between the two stands. It didn’t actually have a lower tier, just one single one, elevated above pitch level, to keep in line with the upper tier of the Main Stand.

This game marked the 100th anniversary of Kenilworth Rd, and so beforehand the club had put on some entertainment to celebrate the grounds ‘birthday’, and before kick-off, a large number of ex-players were paraded in front of the crowd, doing a lap of honour around the pitch, with them (surprisingly!) getting a warm response when passing in front of the away end.

Once this had finished, the game eventually got started, and from the off we knew we were in for a hard afternoon, when Luton made their intentions clear by coming at us from the start. We did get a few opportunities, but it was mostly the home side doing the attacking and they were unlucky not to take the lead when Carl Cort, back doing some defending cleared a header off the line. Despite the pressure, they couldn’t make their chances tell, and it was us who went in front, on 25 minutes, when on a breakaway Mark Kennedy produced an excellent cross to find Carl Cort at the far post sliding in to put us ahead. The rest of the half was all Luton, and they had another chance cleared off the line, this time by Rohan Ricketts, so when Kenny Miller went off injured, we really were fearing the worst, but despite that, we held on, and went into the break 1-0 up.

In the second half, it was much the same as the first, with Wolves making little impression on the hosts, and after more missed chances, it was no surprise when they equalised on 79 minutes, with Kevin Nicholls firing home through a crowded penalty area, getting Luton back on level terms. This seemed to spark us into action, and we went close at the other end, Olofinjana hitting a shot just the wrong side of the post, but Luton still looked the most likely to get all three points, so when the referee finally blew his whistle, it was to the relief of the travelling Wolves fans, with us being well aware that we deserved little from the game.

Throughout the match, there had been a decent atmosphere from both sets of fans, especially in the away end, helped by the low roof, also where we were sitting, close to the executive boxes, there was a fair bit of banter (all good natured) between the two sets of supporters. The stewards and police, despite seemingly being out in force, all seemed fine, willing to let the game pass by without incident.

After staying to get a few more pictures, we eventually left and went back to the car, via the club shop. The journey back went well, again via Oxford, but we made it back in good time, getting in just after 8pm.

Overall it was a good day out, from a Wolves perspective the game was a bit poor, but Luton had already beaten a number of good sides this season, so a point wasn’t perhaps the worst outcome. The ground, despite having seen better days, is certainly nowhere near as bad as its reputation, and I couldn’t help but love it, with all its character, despite the legroom, there are certainly worse places to watch football, and one of the days I’ll look forward to going back.