Luton will once again have to be in the Conference next season after another narrow miss in the quest for promotion. It did not prove third time lucky for the Hatters as they lost in the play-off final to York and will have another summer of soul-searching and consolidation. It was the same at the start of the season, with the club still smarting from a penalty shoot-out loss to AFC Wimbledon. Gary Brabin retained his post after that failure and his men had a decent enough start of the season, getting some good results in the early weeks without being too impressive. They actually remained undefeated after the first ten games of the season but then lost four key games from September to early November against the four teams above them in the table and that set them back in the chase for promotion. They recovered from the blow in the early weeks of December and actually went another 13 games without defeat all the way to late February. The defence was steadied and the team looked far too good going forward for most of the teams in the division. Jake Howells was marauding down the left wing but apart from that there was little consistency in the starting 11 due to injuries and lack of form. Still, Luton looked well-placed at third place, far behind the top two but seemingly well clear of any danger of being pegged back in the race for the play-offs. However, the defeat that ended that unbeaten run, a 1:0 loss at Barrow, seemed to hit the confidence of the squad quite badly and they struggled to recover. They next lost further four games from the next seven and suddenly were out of the top five with just a month of the season left. Brabin was desperately hanging on for his job but the latest defeat, a painful 2:1 reverse at home to York having been ahead, sealed his fate and Paul Buckle was installed to save the season. He definitely did that by winning four and drawing two of the final six games, keeping clean sheets in all of them, including a 2:0 win at champions Fleetwood on the final day of the season, that s?aled the play-off spot. Luton then came out in force against Wrexham in the semi-finals and won impressively 2:0 at home before holding on for a narrow loss in the return leg to set up a final meeting with their nemesis from York. Luton started well in the decisive game but the early opener by Andre Gray was cancelled out and a clearly offside goal in the second half consigned them to a gut-wrenching 2:1 defeat.
