Bloomfield warns Luton to be 'careful' with expectancy levels high against out of form Rovers

Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield has warned his side to be ‘careful’ about the threat of an out of form Blackburn Rovers this afternoon.

The visitors head to Kenilworth Road having seen their play-off hopes go up in smoke recently, as since John Eustace decided to join Derby County in February, they have won just once, dropping to 12th in the table and now trailing the top six places by nine points with five games to go. Former Barnsley, Watford and West Bromwich Albion chief Valerien Ismael took over a fortnight later, but as Bloomfield found when arriving at Luton, the new manager bounce has been severely lacking for the Frenchman in Lancashire.

He is yet to win in his first seven matches as going into the contest, the Ewood Park club are on a run of no wins in eight, with six defeats, taking two points from a possible 24. On paper it looks like the ideal opposition for Town to boost their own chances of survival with a huge three points, but pointing to the way they hit back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night, Bloomfield said: “We’ve got to be really careful not to get carried away with all of that.

"They’ve got some real good players, they’ve got a good team. The manager knows the level, he’s managed at this level before and we saw the fightback they had on Tuesday evening. They’ve still got fight in their group, so we’re certainly preparing for a really tough game and we have to concentrate on ourselves. The last few home games I’ve really enjoyed watching us at the Kenny, really enjoyed being part of the occasion. The supporters have been incredible roaring the team on, it’s up to us to give them something to cheer of course, we’ve got a tough game, but we believe in ourselves.”

Rovers head to Kenilworth Road having never won a league game in Bedfordshire either since their first visit in the old Division Two back in 1937, drawing nine and losing 13 of their 22 visits overall. That wasn’t something that Bloomfield was about to read into though, as he continued: “No, I don’t think that has any bearing on the situation. It may do to other people, but to me it doesn’t.

"Earlier in the season we were speaking about the lack of away wins and I believed every time we went away we were going to win, it didn’t play a part in my mind. Blackburn have their own story, have their own situation and their own season going on. We have to concentrate on ourselves and the game is just in isolation, so we have to make sure we turn up and perform.”

With five games to go themselves, and on a run of five matches unbeaten, easily their best of the season, it has seen Luton give themselves a realistic chance of escaping the drop, now sitting two points from safety. Victory this afternoon, and other results going their way, could see them move outside of the bottom three, and also begin to haul in the likes of Oxford United, Hull, Portsmouth and Stoke.

To everyone it is quite clear the contest is a must-win one for the Hatters, but Bloomfield wasn’t about to ramp up the pressure on his players, saying: “Nothing’s decided, there’s still four more to go after that. We want to win, we absolutely want to win. We understand the situation we’re in and we get where we are in the season. If we win it will be amazing, if we don’t win, there’s still four more games to do what we need to do.”

The Hatters fans were in terrific voice when Town drew 1-1 with title-chasing Leeds United last weekend, making a similar noise at Stoke on Tuesday, especially when Milli Alli netted his stoppage time leveller, Bloomfield has called on more of the same this afternoon, as in a message to the Kenilworth Road faithful, he added: “Give us everything they’ve got.

“It’s up to us to do the same, but our supporters have been incredible. There’s a belief in the stadium now, there’s a confidence in the stadium and I hope they’re looking forward to seeing their team play and I hope they’re proud of their team. That’s what I want to provide for our supporters, that’s my job, to win games and to provide our supporters with a team that they can be proud of, that represents them. So please turn up in your numbers, please turn up full of voice, we’ll try and do the same and together we can win.”