Luton Town XI 6

Bob Makin returned from a fortnight catching the rays in Portugal to realise that his work had backed up a little while he was away -- if events at sun drenched Meadow Park were anything to go by on Tuesday evening.>

Party for Hatters

Boreham Wood 1

Luton Town XI 6

Bob Makin returned from a fortnight catching the rays in Portugal to realise that his work had backed up a little while he was away -- if events at sun drenched Meadow Park were anything to go by on Tuesday evening.

This humiliating defeat by a young line up illustrates the magnitude of the task before the Wood boss and his team, as the new campaign rapidly approaches and farce was added to acute embarrassment by noting that Wood players scored three of the Hatters' round half dozen.

Pre-season workout or not, nobody is happy with a 1-6 beating at home, least of all the notoriously hard to please Makin, but he was surprisingly accommodating afterwards.

"Alan Carrington's nearly suicidal after that but I think that you have to get the result in perspective. Luton are playing their first league game on Saturday and train every day, starting their preparations before us. The main difference was their sharpness -- they punished us for our lack of it but I saw certain things tonight that I was happy with. Other things of course I wasn't too pleased about though!"

Makin's men have now conceded 21 goals in six warm up matches -- and that rather generously includes the two-hour work out at Potters Bar -- and alarm bells must be ringing despite the quality of those inflicting the damage.

The manager's warm post holiday glow will quickly evaporate if similar hurt is inflicted in Norfolk this weekend and already Makin is suggesting that he has started to make up his mind about the constitution of his squad. Recent triallists Steve Saunders and Matt Vier were left on the bench as Wood struggled against a Hatters side that always appeared a class above their hosts.

Martin Talyor saved well from both Simon Davies and Stuart Douglas in the opening stages, as the visitors seized the initiative early on, and the small crowd did not have to wait long for the first goal as 20-year-old Andrew Fotiadis scored at the second attempt on the far post after ten minutes. Jason Shaw sent a rising drive wide five minutes later, but within 60 seconds Town had stretched their lead as Terry Sweeney's low cross from the right was turned into his own net by Garry Nisbet.

Alan White lashed a shot over and Fotiadis scuffed one wide as Luton dominated the match and when the latter notched his second of the match in the 41st minute turning home Stuart Fraser's cross when again unattended a rout was on the cards.

Wood's only true chance of the first period came just before the break as excellent control by Shaun Marshall was followed by a clever reverse pass to put in Junior Samuels, who ballooned a disappointing shot wide.

Makin introduced Kerry Dixon, Dave Hatchett and 34-year-old Nigerian-born triallist Osmond Ogali for the second half but found themselves four in arrears within 50 seconds of the restart. Again sadly they were the authors of their own downfall as Fotiadis' driven cross cannoned home off the post and hapless Nisbet. With both the Wood skipper and young Hatters' striker now on a hat trick, Talyor saved well from Fotiadis but Marshall had two excellent openings for the home side, both denied by tackles from Luton sub Emmerson Boyce as the striker waited too long to shoot.

Wood's frustration was apparent as Steve Heffer tangled with Davies, who saw European Cup action when at Man United, and more agony was piled on in the 66th minute when another low blast from Fotiadis found the net via Shaw. However, Luton thwarted any home ambitions to outscore them, as sub Michael McIndoe ran in their sixth with 15 minutes left, and to complete a theatrical evening, Boyce pushed Dixon's cross past his own keeper after the former Hatters striker had charged through on the right to give Wood a tiny morsel of consolation.

"Luton attacked us well down the flanks," Makin said later, adding that he felt his own side had missed chances too, although one was hard pressed to remember many. Refering to his men he went on: "I told the players that the season started tonight at 6.30 -- everything before that was just preliminaries. I feel that we have good players in a squad that is perhaps better than we had a year ago -- but they have to prove it out there on the pitch if they are to stay at this club."

WOOD: Taylor, Grime (Hatchett 46 minutes) McCarthy (Ogali 46) J Shaw, Nisbet, Moran, Ireland, Marshall, (Samuels 75) Xavier, Heffer, Samuels (Dixon 46). Subs (not used): Saunders, Vier.

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