Doughty embracing promotion talk as Luton's players are still eying top two spot

Town wingback Alfie Doughty is embracing the talk of promotion that is rife around Kenilworth Road following Luton’s brilliant recent form in recent weeks and months.

Since Rob Edwards took over in November, the Hatters have won 10 from their 16 Championship matches, propelling themselves up to fourth in the table.

Although most of the chat had been about securing a play-off place, a 1-0 victory at Sheffield United last weekend prompted discussions about catching the second-placed Blades.

Following Town’s third win in a row on Wednesday night when beating Bristol City 1-0 on Wednesday night, it saw the deficit now seven points, as Doughty definitely wasn’t playing down his side’s chances of catching the Bramall Lane club.

He said: “We’re always looking at the table, but I think tonight was another example that we can push on.

“We’re only one point behind Middlesbrough now, which was seven points last week, so if you think about it, it’s another point in the right direction.

“If we get second, we get second, but if we get third or fourth then that’s fine and we can just go to Wembley and do our job there.

“We’re not really focusing on it too much, we know where we are, we know what we’ve got to do, but as long as we get the wins, we get the wins.”

The majority of Luton’s squad are used to battling it out in the upper echelons of the second tier at this stage of the season after the Hatters reached the play-offs last year, harshly beaten over two legs by Huddersfield Town.

Doughty, who moved to Kenilworth Road in the summer, continued: “Obviously we got really close last year, I wasn’t part of that, but I saw it and I think this year is no different.

"We’ve beaten the big teams up the top and we’re not focusing on it, we’re just focusing on the next game.

"But you can’t hide away the fact we’re only seven points from second, so it’s never something that we’re not thinking about.”

The Hatters will be looking to make it four wins in a row at Sunderland this afternoon, a side who have lost four from their last five matches, including the last two at the Bet 365 Stadium, including a 5-1 hammering by Stoke.

Doughty added: “As a team if you’re losing sometimes they’re going to want to bounce back and Saturday’s going to be no different.

"We’ve got to recover and then make the long travel up north.”