Henry admits players suffered the impact of Smith injury

The horror injury to Town’s Jonathan Smith on the stroke of half time at Barnet on Saturday couldn’t help but affect the Hatters in the second half according to skipper Ronnie Henry, writes Mark Wood.
Barnet v Luton Town, photos by Liam Smith. wk 52.Barnet v Luton Town, photos by Liam Smith. wk 52.
Barnet v Luton Town, photos by Liam Smith. wk 52.

Luton were in complete control at that point as they led 2-0 but, after missing a series of chances, they allowed Barnet to pull a goal back and struggled for much of the second half.

And Henry was in no doubt Smith’s injury had a major impact, saying: “I do definitely (think so). Something like that will affect the lads, even though we are strong lads and we know what we want.

“We went out there to win it for Smudge obviously and we done that in the end.

“But something like that happening to a key player of ours is going to be in the back of the players’ minds, but fair play to the lads, we dug in and got there in the end and got the result we needed.”

Striker Paul Benson though didn’t want to use that an excuse for Town’s lethargic second half showing.

He said: “I don’t know. If you want to make excuses you can say that. I honestly think we should have gone out there and given twice as much effort and determination to try and win the game for Smudgie.

“Obviously you don’t like to see it, but as a footballer you’ve got to put things like that to the back of your mind and concentrate on the game and I think we should have given double our efforts to win the game. I’m not going to use that as an excuse.”

Benson though was full of concern for his former Swindon team-mate and was keen to visit him in hospital.

He said: “I’ve only just come out of the changing room so I don’t know where he is or what the situation is so it’s all very fresh and I don’t really know what’s going on.

“It would be nice if we could do that. We will speak to the relevant people and find out where he is.

“I would certainly like to make a trip down to see him and make sure everything is OK.”

The incident itself was embroiled in controversy as referee Robert Whitton initially raced over to show a yellow card, before upgrading it to red following discussions with his assistants.

Henry explained: “I don’t understand why the referee’s run across so quickly and then given him a yellow, because I thought he’d run across and give him a red straight away, because it was obvious it was a red card I think.

“I spoke to the linesman and the linesman said he hadn’t given him a chance to speak, so obviously then the linesman spoke to him and he’s sent him off.

“I don’t know what the rules are, but it was a red and that was it, he went off in the end and we’ll move on.

“The referee, obviously I think he knew once he gave the yellow card it was the wrong decision, so he made up for it.”

But he wasn’t sure that the referee would be able to alter his decision having given his initial verdict far too quickly.

Henry said: “Obviously once he gave the yellow I wasn’t sure he could reverse it and give the red, but he has done and I think it was the right decision in the end, but I haven’t ever seen it before, no.”

Nurse was apologetic after the incident, but the horrendous damage had already been done.

Henry continued: “He’s asked to come in and apologise and come in and apologised to the lads, but the lads take it how they want to take it, it’s up to them.

“Like I said he’s not that type of lad, but I don’t think he should be going in with them tackles like that to be honest with you, it’s not a good challenge, I haven’t seen it, but it didn’t sound good anyway.

“I know he’ll be down because he’s that type of lad, but I don’t think you should be going in for those type of challenges, and it weren’t a nice one.”

Henry admitted Smith had been a ‘key’ performer for the Hatters, but pragmatically declared that his absence is an opportunity for someone else.

“He is a key player to us and it’s not nice, and second half I think it showed a bit,” he said.

“We were a bit down, but that’s football and I think we could have been out of sight by then anyway.

“It’s another opportunity for someone else though isn’t it. Players will jump in there straight away.

“Matt Robinson came on today, he’s been chomping at the bit to play. And I don’t know what the gaffer’s going to do, I don’t know, but there’s an opportunity for someone there because I suppose Smudge won’t be around now until next season, but we’ll be fighting every day, every week to win this league for him and I’m sure whoever comes in in his place will fit in just right and they’ll be fine.”

Despite all the furore in the incident-packed game, victory at the Hive was another key milestone in the Hatters’ season.

And Benson was pleased that Town had been able to prevail, saying: “I thought they were brilliant. I won’t say for as bad as we were, but we did look like we were off it by a couple of yards and they took full advantage and fair play to them.

“They’re a good side and this is a tough place for teams to come and get results, so well done to them, especially second half, I thought they done to us what we did to them first half, and full credit to them because at 2-0 down and with 10 men it must have been hard in the dressing room for them to get themselves up for the second half. But they’ve done it really well and given us a hell of a game.”

Henry concurred, saying: “It weren’t easy at the end, even though they had 10 men, and we’ve come through it OK in the end so we move on to Saturday.

“We are a confident side and the management have put confidence in us and told us to go out there as our fitness is on top form.”

Town’s official 1,700 travelling fans also played a key role in the victory as Benson added: “It always does to be honest, they’re superb. I remember speaking the first time I came here saying I think they are tremendous supporters and they seem to be getting better and better.

“And the team are responding to it so hopefully we can keep marching on together and we can get out of this league.”

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