It’s been over eight years since Luton graced the Sincil Bank pitch, coming for an inspiring 0-0 draw in September 2017, just after we arrived in the EFL.
It was an impressive Luton side – James Collins, Danny Hylton, Pelly Ruddock and Alan Sheehan on the pitch for the visitors. They’d go on to be promoted and rightly so, with a good squad playing nice football. However, our draw was considered a good result, with the official BBC report suggesting we looked most likely to score in the dying embers of the game.
I predicted they wouldn’t be involved in another 0-0 draw, but they had three more, one on the final day against Notts County. I also said if you finished above them in May 2018, you’d be promoted, and I was right – Accrington finished above them and won the title.
As for us, we went into the play-offs, losing to Exeter over two legs, but the following season lifted the title.
I thought it might be interesting for Imps fans to see what has happened to the starting XI and subs, from our 0-0 draw all those years ago.
Paul Farman
Paul Farman has certainly enjoyed a stellar career since this encounter. He lost his Imps place before the end of the season and was replaced by Ryan Allsop. He left, joining Stevenage, and has since made almost 250 EFL appearances for them, Barrow and Carlisle.
This summer, after a short spell with the PFA team, he joined Championship outfit Swansea City as third choice keeper.
Sean Long
Long was an enterprising full back who suffered by being here at the same time as Neal Eardley. For this game, Eardley played on the left, leaving Long to appear on the right. After one more start, Sam Habergham was back in the side, pushing Long out.
He left City at the end of the season, moving to Cheltenham, for whom he appeared 215 times before a 2024 switch to Forest Green Rovers. He’s still with Dale Vince’s outfit in the National League.
Luke Waterfall
Luke led the team to the EFL Trophy final win, and started the title-winning season before securing a move to League One Shrewsbury Town. He played one season for them before coming back to Lincolnshire with Grimsby, with whom he was relegated from the Football League, and promoted again.
After two seasons with Hartlepool, the Sheffield-born defender moved to Worksop Town, where he is currently.
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