Luton will have to go through the agony of another season in non-league after just falling short of promotion in their second attempt of returning to where they belong. It was a cruel end of the season for the Hatters who once again were billed as the outright favourites to secure the title at the start of the season despite Crawley's lavish spending. And on paper Richard Money had a superb squad but once again the lack of consistency and some silly dropped points started to hamper them in the early weeks. A 3:1 loss away at Tamworth provoked fans to turn on Money as early as August and more poor performances on the road at Grimsby and Gateshead, in September increased the uneasiness around Kenilworth Road. Luton were still too good for most of the teams in the league but were losing in the key games, with a 2:1 home defeat to Crawley in October, leaving them as chasers in the battle for promotion. They gradually regained their form once Money settled on his best 11 and Andy Drury grew into the best winger in the league in no time, coming up with some stunning goals and a number of assists. As a result of that, Luton looked comfortably placed in the play-off zone in the early weeks of 2011 and in position to attack the top two if they drop points. The losses have been cut to and in fact Luton lost just once from October until mid-February. However, they never really looked like title challengers and in March the board decided to part company with Money after a shock defeat to lowly Southport. Gary Brabin was given the task of steering the team to the decisive play-offs in the best possible shape and he did a good job in rotating his squad and mixing things up. The momentum definitely seemed to be with Luton ahead of the semi-final against Wrexham and the Hatters did the job, securing a superb 3:0 win away in the first leg and then duly sealing their place in the final against Wimbledon. That final was all about fine margins and only the woodwork denied Jason Walker a goal that would have deservedly sent Luton up into the Football League. It was not to be and they missed two penalties in the shoot-out which means another season of playing against obscure teams on difficult pitches. Brabin is expected to stay on and will need to make sure that it is third time lucky for Luton as they just cannot afford to lose any more time in non-league.
