Drury back in the mix as Town look to sink Mariners

Speaking at today’s press conference assistant manager Gary Brabin played down rumours linking the creative 27-year-old with a move away from Kenilworth Road and revealed he would undergo a late fitness test to see if he would be fit for tomorrow’s game.

Drury was ruled out of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Gateshead with a hamstring injury and Dan Gleeson, who suffered a bad knock to his leg will also have a late fitness test.

Striker Jason Walker trained fully today and should be available and Brabin was in confident mood ahead of the visit of the Mariners.

He said: “Jason Walker has trained today, Dan Gleeson has stepped up training today.

“They physio is working 24/7 to get people back on the pitch and hopefully we will have them back for us in the run in.

“Amari Morgan-Smith has stepped up his training but he is not as advanced.”

On Drury, who was missing at the weekend, Brabin said: “Drury is a quality player and has been an outstanding player for us this season and you are going to miss him.

“At the moment Andy Drury is still our player.

“You are always going to get rumours when good players are about.

“We’ve got good players at the club and there’s bound to be interest but he is still out player.”

More on this story will be in tomorrow’s Luton News/Dunstable Gazette.

And Brabin was bullish ahead of the Mariners test, saying: “In some ways it’s probably easier when we are playing against the likes of Grimsby and York as, no disrespect to the lesser sides we are expected to steamroller them.

“We are looking forward to all our games. There’s a real good atmosphere in training and a good atmosphere amongst the lads.

“We are all disappointed by the result the other day but we will look to bounce back.”

Grimsby drew their last home game with Crawley Town 0-0 and beat Kettering 2-1 the week before.

However, they lost to Chasetown 2-1 in the FA Trophy the match before, and Brabin believes they will be looking for some consistency.

He said: “They are a tough side, we went there earlier in the season and got beaten by them.

“They are probably looking for a bit more consistency.”

And having come down from the Football League Brabin also thinks there will be some real pressure on the Mariners in the clash that’s being televised live on Premier Sports.

He continued: “I think there’s an expectancy there that they should be in or around the play-offs.

“They’ve got some good players and are a good team like we saw earlier in the season.

“They are no mugs, we know it will be a tough game but we have got to concentrate on ourselves and get back to winning ways.

“They are a tough side. They have a lot of expectancy on them to be in and around the play-offs.

“They will be full of confidence but so will we.”

Alan Connell has been in fine form for the Mariners scoring 16 times this season, but Brabin was keen to point out they are far from a one man team.

He said: “Obviously Connell’s done well this season and scored goals, but they are a good side and have some good players as well.

“They are a big club and have some good players and will be wanting more than they’ve got at the moment and to be up and around the play-offs.”

But he admitted the Hatters were disappointed by their performance in the 2-2 draw against Gateshead.

Brabin said: “We don’t want to make excuses, overall we were disappointed by the performance.

“There were two deflected goals and you are very unlucky to concede one in a game let alone two.

“I thought we started the first five minutes OK. I don’t think they had a shot on target.

“He has hit it and I think it’s come off Pilks (George Pilkington) and wrong-footed Tyles (Mark Tyler) and these things happen - it was a fluky goal.

“Then the lad’s had a cross and it’s taken a wicked deflection and looped over Tyles.”

And having pulled themselves level through goals from Danny Crow and Claude Gnakpa, and with the Tynesiders being reduced to 10 men, Brabin said: “We didn’t want half time to come.

“You’ve only got 10 minutes in there at half time and it never seems enough time.

“We were confident going into the second half that we could build on that.

“Overall we were disappointed with our performance.

“They changed their game plan, were a bit more defensive, and got everyone around the ball.

“It’s always hard when they get 10 people behind the ball. But we’ve created enough chances to score goals.

“It (playing against 10 men) works for you sometimes and works against you others.

“At least we’ve come out with something and we’ve got to build on that.

“We had a few chances which we are disappointed we didn’t take.”

But with the number of injuries the Hatters have he conceded they had limited options from the bench.

Brabin continued: “We’ve got some good young players coming through.

“It was a very young bench on Saturday and when you are looking for people to change it, it’s a little unfair to the young players.”

Town though are still playing well, and Brabin added: “We are trying to play football in the right way and win games in the right way.

“We just try and play the same way all the time.

“We are confident going into each game we will get the result we deserve.”

Grimsby boss Neil Woods, meanwhile, has vowed that his team will be going for the win at Kenilworth Road as they look to do the double over Luton.

He said: “Luton is a big game – I think most people recognise that even before the season began with both clubs only dropping out of the league in the past few seasons.

“It was a great battle at our place which I felt we deserved to win.

“We’re under no illusions about how tough it will be because they are a good side who are having a good season.

“But we will go there with a positive mind-set to try and win.

“We won’t be thinking of playing cautiously.

“I know Richard Money disagreed with me and felt they should have won at Blundell Park but managers do have different opinions.

“I’ve met him at a few games since and we’ve been fine.

“He’s got a very good squad of players there who are scoring plenty of goals.”

Michael Coulson (knee) and Lee Ridley (stomach) are still sidelined for the Mariners, Lee Peacock is suspended and Charles Ademeno was set to go under the surgeon’s knife today for a knee operation.

New boy Serge Makofo, meanwhile, is again likely to partner Connell up front.

Woods added: “We won’t have any of the injured players back but thankfully we didn’t pick any new knocks up on Saturday.

“I am aware that there are a lot of games at the moment and there are ideas in my mind about where we could possibly freshen it up but there won’t be many changes if we do.”