Benson prefers Hatters’ tough run-in

The Hatters travel to Northampton Town this afternoon, with the Cobblers themselves still in the play-off hunt.

They will also faces the likes of Exeter, Burton, Southend and Stevenage in their final seven games as Benson said: “From personal experience, I prefer playing the teams that are there or thereabouts, pushing for promotion, rather than teams like Hartlepool and Carlisle – the teams that are scrapping down at the bottom.

“You find, at this stage of the season, that those teams at the bottom just put so much into a game that they’re very hard to play against. Whereas the teams at the top look to win a game.

“It’s good that we are playing teams in and around us who are looking to win the points to get promotion, so it should make it more of an open game for us to play our football in.

“I think we’ve got a good run in and we’ll just try to win as many games as we can.”

That view was echoed by boss John Still who said: “It’s a good game for us. As I said the other day, if I had to pick games to play, I would have played the likes of Wycombe.

“It will be a good local derby, he’s a good pal of mine the manager (Chris Wilder), they’re the games you want to play.

“We’re going to play against a good team, it will be a tough test, that’s what we need all the time.

“I want my team and players to get better, not just for now, but become better for the future.”

On the threats that the Cobblers possess, Still added: “They’re a good all-round side. The boy that used to be at Reading (Lawson) D’Ath, I wasn’t sure about him, saw him play at Dagenham for a little while on loan, but I think he’s done okay there.

“(John-Joe) O’Toole, can be up and down, he can be a threat and I thikn he’s quite an experienced player.

“The lad who they don’t always play, (Ivan) Toney, he’s a handful, while (Marc) Richards is a goalscorer. So they’ve got some decent all-round players.

“I expected Northampton to do better than they’ve done, they’ve picked up quite a bit, but them and Oxford were in my mind to do all right.”