Edwards urges Luton to treat games against Boro, Rovers and Hull like play-off matches

Town boss Rob Edwards has urged his side to treat their final three matches of the season as play-off encounters before the real thing gets underway next month.

The Hatters, who are sitting third in the table, already assured of a top four berth, host fourth placed Middlesbrough this evening at Kenilworth Road, a game live on the Sky Sports cameras and one that is a potential dress rehearsal for the final at Wembley Stadium on May 27.

They then go to Blackburn Rovers next Monday, Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side a possible opponent in the two-legged play-off semi-final, although the Ewood Park club have dropped to eighth recently after a run of six matches without a win, including four straight draws.

Town are also at home to Hull City on Monday, May 8, the Tigers with nothing to play for now, safe in mid-table and assured of another season in the Championship.

Although the Hatters retain the slimmest of chances of catching Sheffield United in second, anything other than victory this evening ends those hopes, while should Luton triumph, the Blades could seal promotion by beating West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday evening anyway.

With that in mind, Edwards said: “We’ll still keep fighting and going for it, we have to while it’s still mathematically possible.

“There’s two things – we want to keep our momentum and we want to keep people fresh and fit, that’s what we’ve got to do, so we’ve got to find a real good balance to that.

“But we’ve got some fantastic games coming up now on consecutive Mondays, and I’ve just said to the lads, we want to treat them like play-off games.

“They are, this is Middlesbrough coming up and they are going to be in and around it, of course they’re going to be there, Blackburn as well.

“These next couple of games, let’s treat them like that.

"Let’s get the atmosphere going on Monday night.

“I’m sure everybody will be looking forward to it, so let’s have a little early taste of the play-offs.”

Luton go into the game in stunning form themselves, unbeaten in 11 league matches, their best run at this level since the 1981-82 season when they got promoted to Division One, finishing the campaign 14 undefeated.

Town have done so by going up against three sides battling to stay in the division in recent weeks, beating Blackpool 3-1 and Rotherham 2-0, then fighting back to earn a 1-1 draw at Reading last Wednesday.

The haul was something that left Edwards satisfied, as he added: “They’ve (Reading) found a way that’s going to suit them.

“They’ve got some power and real athleticism in that team, so we anticipated that they might sit off and give us a little bit more of the ball, but in the last three games, we’ve played Blackpool, Rotherham and Reading, and they’re all teams that are down there and fighting at the moment.

“I think we’ve shown lots of good control, some really good football in those games, as well as our usual attributes, our pressing and our regains as soon as we’ve lost it.

“So to come through these three and we’ve all seen some different results, as I think at this stage of the season anything can happen.

“Top versus bottom, it doesn’t really matter, it almost goes out of the window.

"To come through these three games, this little block here of Blackpool, Rotherham and Reading, with seven points and two of those being away, is real good for us.”