Hatters almost at full strength for Sky Blues clash

Town will be virtually at full strength for tomorrow’s League One clash against Coventry and Kenilworth Road, according to boss Mick Harford.
Hatters boss Mick HarfordHatters boss Mick Harford
Hatters boss Mick Harford

The Hatters take on the Sky Blues live on Sky TV, with only Glen Rea missing out due to a knee injury during December which will sideline him until the end of the season.

He said: “More or less, everyone’s fit, it’s a massive bonus for us to have everyone fit and everyone fighting for places.

“You look at the bench and the bench is strong.

"Hopefully everyone keeps competing, hopefully everyone stays fit and we have real competition for places until the end of the season.”

Duo Harry Cornick and Alex Baptiste both missed out for Town’s 2-1 win at Fleetwood Town last weekend, and boss Harford knows there will be some disappointments over the final 13 games of the campaign.

He continued: “We pick a team and we pick a squad and we pick a bench for certain games.

“Some people might miss out and we’ve had a meeting about that, about who might not be involved.

"But at the end of the day there’s a massive goal for everyone, there’s a massive prize at the end of it.

"If we come out at the right end, 100 per cent everyone in the squad will have played their part in terms of if we do get over the line, or whatever happens at the end of the season and that’s the way we’ll take it forward.”

Despite Town making it a club record 20 Football League games unbeaten at Highbury when beating Fleetwood on Saturday, Harford believes it hasn’t been difficult keeping everyone’s mind on the job in hand tomorrow.

He continued: “It’s quite easy, you get your feet back on the ground, keep focused, keep working hard on the training ground.

“I honestly believe the way the the results have been going is testament to the players for how they go about their business, the way they work hard on the training ground.

"They're training like Trojans, working hard, so all we can do is keep them motivated and keep them focused on the challenges ahead.”

When asked what he expects from a visiting side who are ninth in the table and unbeaten in their last three matches, Harford added: “I know Mark (Robins, manager) very well, I know Adi (Viveash, assistant) very well, they’ve set the team up how they want to set the team up and it looks to me like they’ve found a shape they enjoy playing.

“Whether they stick to that I don’t know, we just made our players aware of what we think they will come as.

“They’re a very, very, very competitive team, very hard working.

"They’ve got a front four who are dangerous they play with a 10 just behind the striker, so a real dangerous outfit.

“They’ve got some good midfield players (Tom) Bayliss, is going to be a good player, playing alongside (Liam) Kelly, who dictates play and looks to gets on the ball, so it’s going to be another tough game.”