Crunch game

When we recorded a 2-0 win at the delightful and elegant Kenilworth Road on the last day of October I don't think either club considered they would have any fears about dropping into League One come the end of the season. We went into the game in fourth place in the table whilst the Hatters were three points and five places below us.

They remain five places below us but the points gap is five points and we've played two games less, confirming that their run of results has been even worse than ours. Including that win, courtesy of two Andy Gray goals, we've won just three times with the other two wins coming at home against Ipswich and Leeds. For Luton too there have been just three wins whilst they have been beaten no fewer than eighteen times in their last twenty-six games.

I suppose we've got on fairly quietly with our poor run, but Luton have managed to capture the headlines as much as possible, mainly through the rantings of manager Mike Newell who finally said goodbye to them just over two weeks ago.

Brian Stein took temporary charge for their last outing, a home game against Ipswich, and this week they have appointed former Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell who has signed a four year contract with his home town club.

Four of their starting line up from that game at Luton are no longer with them. Carlos Edwards and Rowan Vine both moved on in January for a total of around £4 million. Whether that figure included Newell's cut is unknown. Last week on the loan deadline day they allowed Warren Feeney to move to Cardiff until the end of the season, and Peter Holmes to Lincoln on a similar deal.

No one came in last week but they did make two new signings in January and do have three players with them on loan. Matthew Spring returned from Watford in a £200,000 move and they paid Sheffield Wednesday £250,000 for striker Drew Talbot.

Young Austrian forward Besian Idrizaj made his debut last time out after moving from Liverpool for the rest of the season. Their two other loan signings are Clarke Carlisle from Watford and Fulham's Bjorn Runstrom who was, according to the player, wrongly quoted recently.

Blackwell will be in charge for the first time as he looks to get his side out of this current run of poor form, whilst the Clarets will be hoping to finally end this long run without a win.

Click HERE to see all Luton's results this season.

Kevin Blackwell is preparing his side for what he thinks will be a battle. "It will be hostile, there's no doubt about that," he said. "I've been there before and their fans are very passionate, and they'll be equally concerned about the plight of their club at the moment. So we know it is going to be a tough fight."

There's no indication as to what the team might be but the only player ruled out is long term injury victim Sam Parkin whilst Lewis Emanuel was still not training yesterday after being laid low by a virus.

Two of the loan players Clarke Carlisle and Bjorn Runstrom will start and both will play their last games before returning to their own clubs, but Blackwell has hinted that Idrizaj could start on the bench.

They had received a boost with both Matthew Spring and Ahmet Brkovic coming through a reserve game this week. Spring has been out of action for four weeks whilst Brkovic hasn't played since January. Both will be in the squad.

Luton will select from the following: Marlon Beresford, Keith Keane, Clarke Carlisle, Markus Heikkinen, Lewis Emanuel, Kevin Foley, Leon Barnett, Steve Robinson, David Bell, Drew Talbot, Besian Idrizaj, Dean Brill, Chris Coyne, Bjorn Runstrom, Steven O'Leary, Matthew Spring, Ahmet Brkovic.

Click HERE to see the full Luton squad.

I think the only thing we can say with some certainty is that we are unlikely to have the same sixteen who were in the squad Preston. Both new signings Graham Coughlan and Paul McVeigh are sure to be in the squad, John McGreal is back in training after suffering a groin injury at Southend and Andy Gray returns after illness ruled him out at Deepdale.

To add to that, captain Steven Caldwell, who was forced off with a shoulder injury just after half time, is back in training as is Wayne Thomas who was stretchered off at Colchester and has since required cartilage surgery. That leaves only Stephen Foster (achilles) and Alan Mahon (groin) on the injured list.

It's guessing games and that's all it can be, but maybe the team could be similar to this: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, Graham Coughlan, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Kyle Lafferty, Ade Akinbiyi, Andy Gray. Subs from: Brian Jensen, Wayne Thomas, John McGreal, Garreth O'Connor, Chris McCann, John Spicer, Graham Branch, Joey Gudjonsson, Paul McVeigh, Steve Jones.

Luton were last at Turf Moor to bring the curtain down on the 2005/06 season. They went home with a point from a game that the Clarets really should have won.

We were the better side in the first half, and totally dominated in the second half, but in the end had to come from behind to earn a point after Rowan Vine had given the visitors the lead.

As much as we dominated we couldn't find the net. They cleared shots off the line, we missed a couple, and Marlon Beresford had an inspired afternoon in goal, making two outstanding saves to keep out shots from James O'Connor and Kyle Lafferty. In the end he could do nothing when those two players combined, O'Connor played the ball to Lafferty who superbly turned Leon Barnett before hitting an unstoppable shot past the helpless ex-Claret.

After a terrible run through the early part of 2006 we'd recovered although the season had fallen well short of the sixty points obtained twelve months earlier. There were signs of better things to come.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, John Spicer, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, Jon Harley, Alan Mahon (Wade Elliott 89), James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Graham Branch (Garreth O'Connor 77), Andy Gray, Kyle Lafferty (Michael Ricketts 87). Subs not used: Micah Hyde, Danny Karbassiyoon.

Luton: Marlon Beresford, Kevin Foley, Keith Keane, Leon Barnett, Dean Morgan (Danny Stevens 75), Kevin Nicholls (Peter Holmes 75), Ahmet Brkovic (David Bell 87), Warren Feeney, Enoch Showunmi, Rowan Vine, Steve Howard. Subs not used: Dean Brill, Calvin Andrew.