Luton earn trip to League Two Gillingham in Carabao Cup

Luton have been drawn away to League Two side Gillingham in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

Town met their opponents from Kent just three years ago in this competition during what was a second round encounter at Kenilworth Road, as they embarked on a first-ever season in the Premier League, triumphing 3-2 on the night thanks to goals from Jacob Brown, Alfie Doughty and Cauley Woodrow, although were then knocked out 1-0 at Exeter City in the following round.

The two teams have met at this stage before back over 45 years ago in August 1979, although that was when the tie was a two-legged affair, as Luton were beaten 3-0 in their away contest, meaning their 1-1 draw on home soil, Mark Aizlewood scoring, wasn’t enough to prevent a 4-1 defeat on aggregate.

Having finished last season in 17th place and releasing 14 players in the summer, the Kent side are actively looking to improve their squad for the upcoming campaign, already adding four new signings in midfield duo James Brophy and Zane Albarus from Cambridge United and Brighton & Hove Albion’s academy respectively, Oxford United striker Will Goodwin, plus centre half Liam Gordon following his departure from Scottish Premiership side Motherwell.

If technical director Richard Dobson has his way, then boss Gareth Ainsworth can expect even more additions at his disposal by the time the tie comes around, as speaking to BBC Radio Kent, he said: “We certainly want another six. We're putting the feelers out, speaking to clubs about players that we could potentially take on loan."

"Some of the best players in this division over the last couple of years have been loanees from clubs higher up the pyramid, so we'd be stupid not to look in those areas. There's been a lot of phone calls. At this time of year, the agents hold all the cards - they play four or five clubs off against each other to get the best deal they possibly can, so it's hard to get some of these deals over the line.

"We don't want players coming here solely because the club pays well. We're going to rein that in a little bit and make sure we spend that money sensibly on players that want to be part of the project. We've obviously given ourselves a lot to do, with the amount of players that were released and the sort of rebuild we're going through at this moment in time. We needed a fresh start. We need to build a team that's going to give us some impetus going into the new season and compete at the top end of the league."

Southern section draw: QPR vs Millwall; Cheltenham vs Charlton Athletic; Gillingham vs Luton; Cardiff vs Swindon; Bristol City vs Walsall; Plymouth vs Exeter; Bristol Rovers vs Peterborough; Watford vs York OR Crawley; Cambridge vs Barnet; Norwich vs MK Dons; Colchester vs Southampton; Leyton Orient vs Oxford United; Wycombe vs Stevenage; Bromley vs Reading; Swansea vs Birmingham; West Ham vs Portsmouth; Wimbledon vs Newport; Leicester vs Northampton Town;

Northern section draw: Middlesbrough vs Wrexham; Rotherham vs West Brom; Barnsley vs Wigan; Mansfield vs Sheffield United; Stockport vs Doncaster Rovers; Sheffield Wednesday vs Bolton; Fleetwood vs Chesterfield; Crewe vs Accrington Stanley; Stoke City vs Oldham; Wolves vs Port Vale; Burnley vs Notts County; Derby County vs Lincoln City; Bradford vs Tranmere OR Rochdale; Burton Albion vs Blackburn Rovers; Salford vs Shrewsbury; Grimsby vs Blackpool; Preston vs Huddersfield.