Luton’s break a blessing in disguise?

THE Hatters’ unexpected 10-day lay-off may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise according to manager Richard Money, writes Mark Wood.

With Saturday’s visit of Forest Green Rovers having been rescheduled for this coming Tuesday, it gave Luton some time to recuperate following their 2-1 defeat to leaders Crawley Town last Tuesday.

Money said: “We’ve been able to give them a bit of time off as well as work them. One of the benefits of not playing last Saturday was we might have had four or five missing for the weekend.

“We’ve been able to give them the rest they needed to recover from slight knocks and we’ve had a bit of illness in the camp over the weekend and sometimes these things happen for a reason.”

Crawley slipped up on Saturday, throwing away a one-goal lead in a 1-1 draw at Barrow – where the Hatters recently managed a 1-0 win.

Money believes a run of results is just around the corner and is hoping that it will start at Eastbourne on Saturday as the Hatters bid to make inroads into the leaders’ nine-point advantage.

He said: “We are only bothered about ourselves and it’s always been the case.

“I genuinely think we are only two to three points away from where we need to be at this point in time.

“The gap is nothing as far as we are concerned.

“We are very, very positive we can go on a run quickly at some stage – the type of run we had last year which put us right back into contention.

“Now is the time for everyone to push forward.

“I think we are in good form and playing well. The players we have are very determined and buoyant and are in good form at the minute.

“They are quietly confident there’s a very strong run around the corner and we need to start it as quickly as possible.”

However, Town will be without Claude Gnakpa (pictured) who serves a one-game ban after picking up five bookings.

They are also likely to be missing adaptable wide man Adam Newton who saw a specialist about his Achilles injury on Monday.

Speaking on Monday, Money said: “We haven’t heard back yet, he has gone today. It’s normally rest for these types of injury so it shouldn’t be too long.”

Young midfielder Adam Watkins was also likely to come into the squad after his loan spell at Arlesey Town came to an end.

Money added: “Adam Watkins is back with the group. He has benefited from the time away so he will be in with the group at the weekend.”

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