Hatters’ squad relishing festive fixtures

Luton travel to Wycombe Wanderers on Boxing Day for a top-of-the-table clash, before hosting Portsmouth on Sunday, in what is a sell-out at Kenilworth Road.

On the mouthwatering matches, Hayrettin said: “The whole squad, everyone’s looking forward to it.

“We are lucky to have what we have here with this support.

“Sometimes in previous games when we weren’t playing particularly well, they’ve given us that drive and determination to push on.

“No doubt they’ll do it against Portsmouth and no doubt they’ll do it against Wycombe.

“Because they’ve never wavered once here, it’s fantastic.

“We want to go to the next game with the support behind us like they have been all season.”

The Wycombe match will be a trip down memory lane for Hayrettin, as he spent time with the Chairboys earlier in his playing career.

He said: “I used to play there, but this is my club now.

“It was over 20 years ago I played for Wycombe, so I’ve still got a lot of affection for them.

“I still go back and have the players reunions with the supporters and bits and pieces like that.

“But my club is Luton and we’ve got to go there, do a job and get the points.

“They’re doing well, we’re doing well, so it will be a good game.”

Hatters go into the match at Wycombe on the back of a fine 3-0 win over Newport County on Saturday, as they put their disappointing defeat against Morecambe the previous weekend behind them.

On the Newport win, goalscorer Jake Howells said: “We knew it was going to be tough, they are a good side on a good run.

“It’s a bit of a loss for them losing Aza (Aaron O’Connor), but we knew they were going to be a tough challenge anyway.

“We got an early goal from Wilko (Luke Wilkinson) and they took the game to us a bit towards the end of the first half.

“The gaffer must have said at half time that if we go out and get another goal, I think they’ll go a bit, and we came out with a great spirit.

“Everyone was at it, and Roons (Luke Rooney) got a good early goal and from there we kicked on and played really well.

“I don’t think we looked like losing from there and deserved the win.”

>> Hatters have confirmed they have sold out their ticket allocation of 1,400 for the FA Cup third round tie at Cambridge United on January 3.