Manchester City v Luton Town 1991/92

City Coton, Hill, Pointon, Reid, Curle, Redmond, White, Quinn, I Brightwell, Hughes, McMahon – Heath(used), Sheron(used)

Luton Sutton, James, Harvey, Kamara, Dreyer, Peake, Telfer, Stein, Harford, Pembridge, Preece – used subs Hughes, Oakes

FROM THE PRESS BOX

PAUL HINCE WRITING IN THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS FOOTBALL PINK FINAL 15TH FEBRUARY 1992
David White continued a dazzling scoring burst with two more goals against relegation haunted, Luton Town at Maine Road today.
City’s jet healed England hopeful opened his account after 15 minutes with his tenth goal in 13 outings as the Luton defence appealed in vain for offside.
The Blues increased their lead with a splendid goal from fullback Andy Hill two minutes after the interval followed by White’s second goal only 60 seconds later to take his tally for the season to 17.
And white’s second strike was surely one of the strangest goals seen at Maine Road as he hammered the ball home into an unguarded net from fully 40 yards with Luton keeper Steve Sutton believing the game had been stopped for a free kick.
And Adrian Heath added a fourth.
The Hatters kicked off in their snazzy tangerine away kit and immediately had the Blues back peddling against a powerful run from Telfer down the right. Telfer’s cross was touched back by Stein to Kamara whose crafty side-foot shot from the edge of the penalty box almost took keeper Coton by surprise.
The Blues were looking nervy And hesitant in the opening minutes but could have still have taken the lead after seven minutes following a free kick out on the left taken by Skipper Curle,
Unfortunately White completely miscued, his shot from no more than 12 yards out.
Blues were turn apart again by a brilliant interchange of passing between Stein and Pembridge stains final pass, sent Pembridge galloping clear into the penalty area and Luton’s busy midfield man held his head in anguish as his shot flashed wide of Coton’s right-hand upright.
However, after 15 minutes the off colour Blues suddenly clicked into top gear to snatch the lead against the run of play with a bizarre goal.
Luton’s entire back four stood rooted to the spot waiting for the offside whistle as Quinn gently lobbed the ball forward to the unmarked White.
However, referee Breen’s whistle stayed in his pocket and White certainly didn’t look at a gift horse in the mouth as he coolly rammed the ball past the helpless Sutton.
Luton, however, were still pushing forward and the Blues were certainly riding their luck and Peter Reid’s side had another miraculous escape after 22 minutes following Pembridge’s right-wing corner, Kamara headed the flag kick back across the face of the area to Telfer whose snap shot beat the diving Coton only for player-boss Reid to hack the ball off the line.
City were at last showing signs of settling down and it was Luton’s, turn to panic after 25 minutes when McMahon whipped in a viciously, swerving left-wing corner. The ball was eventually fed back to the lurking Hill by Quinn and City’s adventurous fullback let fly with a blistering right foot shot which fairly whistled the wrong side of the upright.
Five minutes from the interval Stein couldn’t believe his eyes when Coton somehow twisted in midair to palm his point blank shot over the bar.
Seconds from the interval, Luton again came perilously close to the equaliser they deserved when Pembridge popped up unmarked to meet Telfer’s right-wing cross Only to side-foot his shot wide.
City made a blistering start to the second half with two goals in the space of 60 seconds.
The second came in the 47th minute following a left-wing centre from McMahon which was flicked on by striker Quinn. The ball sat up invitingly for Hill on the edge of the penalty area who gleefully hoisted a right foot shot high over keeper Sutton.
Hardly had the cheers died down than the Blues were three up with the strangest goal seen at Maine Road for many a year.
Luton Keeper Sutton side-footed the ball upfield in the belief that referee Breen had awarded his side a free kick for offside. But the referee had quite clearly waved play on and the eager White took full advantage of the goalkeeper’s extraordinary blunder by smashing a shot back into the unguarded net from fully 40 yards.
It was well over a minute before the game could re-start With the Luton players furiously protesting to both the referee and the linesman on the far side.
Reid took himself off and brought Heath off the bench, and the first touch for the Blues’ substitute was certainly a painful one as he was brought crashing down by Preece who was promptly booked.
A left-wing cross from City’s second substitute Sheron found White just outside the penalty box. This time the goal taker became the goal maker as he rolled his pass inside for Heath to score his first League goal in almost two seasons.
Seven minutes from time White wasted a simple chance to complete his hat trick when he failed to connect cleanly from point-blank range after a fierce, low cross from Sheron had sliced the Luton rearguard to shreds.