Classy Luton ready for in-form Harriers

Steve Burr’s side currently sit top of the form table with five wins from their last six games, a run that has seen them climb into the play-off places.

Harriers would be above Luton had they not been deducted five points for a breach of league financial regulations in January, and Town chief Richard Money said: “Kidderminster are probably the form team in the division, having won six out of the last eight and drawn the other two.

“They are extremely well organised. If you look at their results, they’re all tight results and they’ve been able to come out on the right side of those results.

“They’re difficult to play against and very difficult to beat, so it’s another tough game for us.

“That (Harriers could be above Luton) just shows the quality of the opposition, so it’s certainly a tough one but hopefully one that the players will relish.”

Midfielder Alex Lawless is definitely out of the clash having not recovered from his hip injury, but defender Dan Gleeson should come back into contention.

Money continued: “Alex is probably a little bit sorer than we thought in the first instance and won’t be involved.

“Glees will be in the squad, but I’m obviously mindful of the fact that Luke Graham has had two very good games at right-back, so that comes into consideration.

“Everyone else should be OK. There’s a good group of players that we just need to give a little bit of time too to gel and pick up the level of performance and this team will start to flow again.”

Hatters went down 3-1 in their last home match to Fleetwood Town, but have bounced back well since to win at Forest Green Rovers and Guiseley, while they were only just denied three points at Newport County by a last-minute equaliser.

Boss Money is happy with his side’s level of performance going into the business end of the season.

He said: “People need to realise that over the course of a 60 game season, if anybody thinks the team can go and perform at really high standards for 60 games, then they’re kidding themselves.

“The teams that are able to win anything are the teams who can win when they’re not quite at their best and I think we’ve done that over the last two or three games.

“Every game for us is a cup final, because it’s every team’s cup final.

“The intensity that we have to play is far higher than Crawley or anybody else in the league and it will always be that way.

“Results breed confidence. Let’s not forget that this team has lost once in the league since November 11, so if anyone out there is trying to talk themselves into a mini-slump then lets hope the slump continues.

“Because if we lose one game between now and the end of the season, we’ve got a chance of winning (the league).”

Money has been critical of the Kenilworth Road playing surface since the turn of the year as it has cut up badly due to Hatters playing seven successive home games, as well as hosting an England C match.

The boss is expecting another difficult pitch on Saturday, adding: “We did a lot of work in the summer. The pitch was excellent until Christmas, but the weather and number of games on it just turned against us.

“It’s broken up and gone very quickly, as has pretty much everybody else’s.”