Hatters boss facing balancing act for Mansfield trip

LUTON Town manager Richard Money faces a balancing act over what side to select for Sunday afternoon’s FA Trophy semi-final first leg at Blue Square Bet Premier rivals Mansfield Town, writes Mike Simmonds.

The Hatters are back in league action on Tuesday night when they visit Cambridge United, but with Town just two games away from a Wembley final appearance, Money hinted he will select a strong team for the visit to Field Mill.

He said: “We want to go to Wembley. For once everyone should put themselves in the position of the manager, because it could be argued that Tuesday is far more important than Sunday.

“But we want to go to Wembley, we want to take the supporters to Wembley. It’s a difficult balancing act, and we’ll have to see where we go.

“I think our players are professional enough. They can play two games in three days, they play it at Easter and did it earlier in the year. As long as it doesn’t happen too often, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

The fact that the match has been moved to Sunday did still irk Money somewhat, but he is expecting a good advert for Conference football between his side and the Stags.

The boss continued: “When the draw was made we were all happy that we wouldn’t have to have an overnight stay, now we’ve got to go overnight which affects the players a little bit.

“A 12 o’clock kick off is never easy to plan for, but Sunday’s match shouldn’t really be a problem because there’s plenty of time between Tamworth and Mansfield. The way that we repair and recover after Sunday in readiness for Tuesday is crucial, that’s the difficult part.

“It’s a game between two of the so called bigger teams in the division. They’re one of the better teams, they’ll try and play. They play with good width and have got a bit of pace about them.

“So we’re going to have to be very good over these two games to achieve what we want to achieve.”

Being away for the first leg didn’t worry Town’s chief too much as Mansfield travel to Kenilworth Road for the second leg a week on Saturday.

He said: “I think it’s double-edged. You want to make sure you are well in contention for next weekend. If you’re in the driving seat it can make things a hell of a lot easier. So I think we’ll approach this game the same way we do every match.”

It’s not just matters concerning Luton Town that will be on the mind of Money this weekend either, as title challengers Crawley Town and AFC Wimbledon, who are both six points clear of Hatters, both have crucial games.

Leaders Crawley, travel to Fleetwood Town for a match that will see them level on games with Town, while Dons host Kidderminster, who have drawn with both Luton and the Red Devils in the past seven days.

On Tuesday, Crawley entertain Hayes & Yeading too, and Money added: “I think this week is a crucial week. We want to go to Wembley and we want to stay in contention.

“The two teams above us have difficult games. Let’s see what happens there. It will be unusual to sit on a Saturday afternoon and see things develop. Maybe their two opponents can give us a boost, and then Tuesday nights game will be extremely important.”