As malignant metaphors go, Luton have made a habit of shooting themselves in the foot this term, but during this embarrassing shocker at Brentford they traded in for an assault rifle to leave precious little below the ankle beyond a bloody stump.
It wouldn’t come as a suprise if the World Health Organisation declared a serious, if contained, epidemic of itchy-triggerfingeritis, because they were all at it.
But Dan Potts inadvertently turned the gun on himself first and, from his early howler onwards, they played Russian roulette, taking the bullet every time.
If the 5-0 half time scoreline was not bad enough, Town quickly saw Izzy Brown depart after the interval with a torn hamstring and then, having used all their subs, saw new introduction Brendan Galloway stretchered off with a serious knee injury. It left them with ten men for the final 30 minutes.
That the unfortunate defender came on in a midfield berth was strange in itself, after Town’s defence spent the first half admiring the Bees’ speed of thought and deed, without ever fronting up to the basic responsibility of closing down or challenging.
Somehow, at the midway point, the possession stats clocked that the Hatters had 34 per cent of the ball. Presumably, that was largely attributed to James Shea picking the ball out of the net. I don’t know, you do the math!
Still, thank goodness for the smallest – we’re talking atomic level – of mercies that they only conceded twice after the restart, both from the spot. Even when, from 12 yards, Josh Dasilva thumped in his hat-trick and the Bees’ seventh on 87 minutes, there were nine painfully pointless minutes left to play on account of Galloway requiring medical assistance.
Quite what aid the Town squad will require after this humiliation – their biggest defeat in the league since an 8-1 drubbing against Lincoln in 1966 – is anybody’s guess, though a sports psychologist will have their work cut out.
Hunting for the reason the Hatters have been so gaffe prone this term was already the million dollar question and there was another one for the case file when Potts chested a long ball past Shea, leaving the goalkeeper scrambling in vain as Bryan Mbeumo nipped in to toe poke into an empty net.
Town held out until the 29th minute when the real Bees onslaught began.
Ollie Watkins scuffed one in off Matty Pearson and Mathias Jenson wrong-footed Shea before Dasilva bagged a brace, tempted in every occasion to cross or shoot because of Town affording them the freedom of Griffin Park. It’s perhaps a good job they’ll never have to return to the scene of this nightmare, in the league at least, with Brentford set to leave their 115-year-old home at the end of the season.
The game was over by the break, but it still got worse. Not because of the two penalties conceded, as just two more goals was, comparatively, a let-off. Rather, it is because boss Graeme Jones now must plan for a must-win game against Wigan next week, and likely many more weeks beyond that, without their creator-in-chief Brown.
That, in the grand scheme could be the biggest blow, but against the Bees, this will sting for some time.
