PILKINGTON 5 LUFFS 0 (22/11/03) LOUGHBOROUGH sunk to second from bottom on Saturday as they registered their worst defeat of the season against second placed Pilkington XXX. An early season draw at Loughborough against the Kings Norton side meant nothing on Saturday, Pilkington were in a class above and "The Luffs" simple couldn't live with them. The writing was on the wall early on as Pilkington went straight into the attack and whipped in a low cross which could easily have been converted. Pilkington were sharper and fitter than the Loughborough lads and kept the ball in their possession while the nervous Luffs gave it away far too easily and spent most of the game chasing to recover from bad passes. Loughborough survived the early pressure and Nic Bates even had a shot at the Pilkington goal which went just wide. Dunkley should have opened the scoring for the Glassmen but shot wide with only Springthorpe to beat and the overworked Loughborough defence had to be well organised to block a free kick on the edge. Palmer shot past the post and Springthorpe saved a snap shot from Hanson with most of the action at one end of the pitch. Loughborough won a free kick just outside the area but Stevenson’s delivery was easily cleared while Bates had another pot shot and was just to high, it would have been a strange game if The Luffs had pinched a first half lead. Any lingering possibilities of ninety minutes without a goal were dispelled and it has to be said the first was a bit fortunate as Palmers shot took a wicked deflection to wrong foot keeper Springthorpe. As half time loomed Dan Brewer found the side netting but you get nothing for that and Loughborough went in at half just the one goal down and thankful to defence and keeper for it not being a lot worse. The second half was a disaster from start to finish for Loughborough, in the opening minutes a goalmouth scramble saw Dunkley put the ball in the net to make it two and The Luffs were on the downward slope. Loughborough rallied momentarily and Oakes shot just past the post and Bates again tried his luck but keeper Lindsey saved the shot comfortable. It was a reasonable spell for the Luffs who might just have pulled one back at this stage but Pilkington went straight down the other end and made three none with Palmer the scorer again. There were some desperate calls for offside for the fourth goal as Palmer completed his hat trick and it was all over bar the shouting. Pilkington sat back and Brailsford set up Oakes who shot wide and Brailsford himself hit a cracking shot into the top corner but play was brought back for a free kick. Pilkington withdrew their striker Palmer who had done the damage but his replacement stepped on a notched to fifth to complete a miserable day out for The Luffs. Loughborough are now officially relegation candidates and any thoughts on anything other than another epic battle to survive can be forgotten. The question is are this squad up to the task which faced their illustrious predecessors and on Saturdays performance the answer is in the negative. The positive side is that The Luffs now have a chance to regroup and re think their strategy as the next three fixtures are cup matches and the pressure is off for a while. Saturday the Leicestershire Senior Cup away at Asfordby (1.15 PM kick off), Monday evening at Loughborough Dynamo in the Loughborough Charity Cup (7.30 PM kick off) and the following Saturday at home to Cadbury Athletic in the Midland Combination Presidents Cup (kick off 1.30 PM). TEAM:  Paul SPRINGTHORPE, Matt WATKISS, Ian STEVENSON, Carl SPRINGTHORPE, Danny BRAILSFORD, Danny CORBINZOLU, BROWN, Nick BATES, Lee PEARS, Rich OAKES, Danny BREWER SUBS:  Simon TEBBUTT, Mark EDWARDS, Gareth JONES SCORERS:   ATT: N/A HT: 0-1