Luton face a tough task as they travel to second placed Cardiff City in the search for three league points tommorrow. At home the Town are a match for anyone in this league but away from Kenilworth Road picking up points has been more illusive. So far an away win at Sheffield Wednesday has been followed by narrow defeats at both Norwich City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and while it is fair to say that Luton could have picked up at least a point in both matches it was also a similar tale last season and should Luton become play-off contenders the hard luck stories on the road have to stop.
Vital Quotes:
Newell on Lutontoday.co.uk:
Talking about Cardiff City
‘They’ve brought in 11 players if I’ve got my facts right and some of them from Premier League clubs, so they’ve replaced the likes of Cameron Jerome and Jason Koumas and it’s not that much of a surprise the start they’ve made.
‘Dave Jones is an experienced manager. He’s been there and done it before with Southampton and Wolves and he knows what he’s doing.
‘We got a result there last year and it should have been easier than it was in the end, but it’s still a difficult place to go to.’
He added: ‘They’ve got pace and a well organised back four. They shot themselves in the foot the other night by scoring two own goals when they were 3-0 up at Plymouth before eventually drawing 3-3, but that might make them even more difficult to break down as they won’t want that repeating.’
Newell on Richard Langley’s penalty miss and if he will delegate spot kicks to someone else in future:
‘It’s not something I’ve even thought about because Richard scored the one he took before that.
‘If he’s confident then he’ll take it because somebody has got to.
‘There’s no problems if people are confident. There will be occasions when people miss; everyone does it.
‘But if you’re not confident then that’s where there can be problems because there will be no-one wanting to take it.’
Langley comes face-to-face with one of his former clubs when Luton travel to Cardiff tomorrow, but Newell is also not concerned by that fact.
He said: ‘It’s not something I’ve considered. He might be playing against one of his old clubs, but it doesn’t mean anything to me.
‘Playing against your old club you normally feel you’ve got something to prove.
‘It can be nice going back to somewhere you enjoyed playing, but I don’t know whether he did enjoy it or there or not, you’ll have to ask him yourself.
‘Sometimes you can
Cardiff City Team News:
Glenn Loovens is in line to return to the starting XI after missing Cardiffs 3-3 draw with Plymouth
Player to watch: Kevin McNaughton
Kevin will be one that many Hatters fans will be keen to keep an eye out for, after choosing Cardiff City over the Hatters pre-season. With Newell after central defenders the ex-Aberdeen man was seen to be one of Mike’s top targets, and with Town manager seemingly very picky about what defenders he wants then he must have rated the Scottish defender very highly indeed.
Luton Town Team News:
Chris Coyne is making good progress on his injury and may be in contention for a squad place at Cardiff, however Luton will definitely be without the permanently injured Russ Perret as well as the influential Paul Underwood, who is still some way from fitness. Expect the same team that played midweek against Colchester United to start at Cardiff.
Player to watch: Carlos Edwards
Carlos is playing his best football yet at Luton, and while he is still as tricky as ever he is at last supplementing it with quality crosses and good shooting. Should we get a result at Cardiff don’t be surprised if Carlos played a big part.
Match Facts & Stats
Luton’s full league record at Cardiff reads:
Played 27 Won 6 Drawn 7 Lost 14, however in recent history our last four matches at Ninian Park have seen 3 Luton wins and a draw, which stretches back to our FA Cup win there in 93-94, our previous match to that was back in 1981-82 when we also won so that makes 4 wins out of our last 5 visits.
Should we keep up our good recent record there then a two goal victory will see us leap frog over Cardiff in the league.
Ref Watch:
Paul Melin, who in five matches this season has issued 17 yellows and one red card.
Match Prediction:
Cardiff City 1 Luton Town 1. Im going to go for a Sam Parkin equaliser, set up by a cross from Carlos Edwards.
Next Fixtures:
Tues 19 Sep Away vs Brentford in the League Cup Kick Off time 7.45pm.
