Luton Town fans divided after FA Cup thriller v Forest Green Rovers - 'Shocking', 'never apologise for a win' | OneFootball

Luton Town only just squeezed past Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup First Round, and the performance has divided the fans.

Luton Town fans appear divided after their team only just squeezed past Robbie Savage's Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup First Round on Friday night.

New Luton Town manager Jack Wilshere will be breathing a sigh of relief after his team edged past Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup First Round, at the end of a dramatic and slightly scary Halloween night for the home fans at Kenilworth Road.

At first, there were few signs of the drama that lay ahead, in front of the live television cameras of TNT Sports.

The Hatters raced into a 3-0 lead early in the second half, but viewers who switched off early will have missed the evening's drama, as Robbie Savage's National League team staged a dramatic comeback to level the score at 3-3, before Gideon Kodua came off the bench to bag Luton a late win and a place in the Second Round draw.

"I know it's Halloween, but..." - Luton fans react to Forest Green Rovers FA Cup fright

The official account of Luton Town reflected the barminess of the evening with a post to the social media platform X which reported the final score with a cry-laugh emoji, but the response of Luton fans wasn't universally pleased with how the evening had turned out.

With the match being played on Halloween, some Hatters fans made a very obvious connection to the way the clash panned out.

Others were more bullish, because a win is ultimately a win in the world's oldest cup competition.

Another supporter was also keen to point out the need to give Forest Green Rovers credit for their performance, which is something that can easily be forgotten.

Meanwhile, others reflected on how new Hatters manager Jack Wilshere may have felt about his team's second half collapse.

Whilst another fan evidently didn't take many positives from the game.

Broadly speaking, though, the view of the Luton Town fanbase is probably best summed up by one particularly familiar meme:

Evidently then, there's a clear split among Luton fans regarding how their side navigated what turned out to be a tough FA Cup test.

Some are rightly pointing out that it doesn't really matter how you get over the line in the cup, with a win being the most important thing given no points are on offer.

However, others are understandably concerned over the way their team perhaps took the foot off the gas after going 3-0 up on the National League side, which could highlight an unwanted trait for Wilshere to iron out of this group.

Luton Town boss Wilshere will certainly have been given plenty of food for thought by his team's unexpected second half collapse against non-league outfit Forest Green Rovers.

First half goals from Lamine Fanne and Nahki Wells had given the Hatters a 2-0 lead at the interval, and when Wells added his second of the evening to extend that lead to 3-0, it looked as though the night was over as a contest.

But Rovers weren't out for the count yet.

Tom Knowles and Kyle McAllister scored to bring them back into the match, and an equaliser from Aidan Dausch scored with eleven minutes to play, setting up a grandstand finish.

With the possibility of extra-time and even a penalty shoot-out looming, it took a dramatic intervention two minutes into stoppage-time from Gideon Kodua to give Luton their get out of jail free card and a place in the next round.

The evening will have been an education for Wilshere, who's in his first full-time managerial position following his appointment last month, to replace Matt Bloomfield, who was relieved of his duties at the start of October.

With an international break in the way, Hatters fans haven't seen much of Wilshere's Luton yet, and his first match in charge of the team couldn't have gone much worse, with a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Mansfield Town.

Last weekend, however, brought his first win as their manager at Northampton Town.

Much as a win and a place in the Second Round of the competition, Forest Green's second-half comeback will have served as a reminder that there is still plenty of work to do on a Luton Town team that have endured two successive relegations since their surprise ascent to the Premier League.

In Cup matches, getting the win is all that really matters once the final whistle blows, but Luton's second half horror show will serve as a reminder to all at Kenilworth Road that there remains a lot of work for the new man in charge to do to complete their downward turn of the last couple of years...