Naismith knows lowly Cardiff will still be doing everything they can to beat the play-off chasing Hatters

Luton defender Kal Naismith doesn’t think for a second that today’s opponents Cardiff City will give Town an easy ride during their Championship clash in South Wales.

With the Hatters right in the mix for a play-off berth, sitting fourth in the table and five points clear of seventh following Good Friday’s 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, life couldn’t be more different for the Bluebirds.

Stuck down in 17th and safe from relegation, it’s been a tough campaign for City, with nothing for Steve Morison’s side to feasibly play for.

Despite that, Naismith knows full well they will be looking to make it a difficult afternoon for the Hatters, as they have on their previous eight league meetings, Cardiff winning the last five in a row, with six victories in total, Luton not triumphing since October 2005.

He said: “Cardiff, every game they’ve got something to play for.

"They play for pride, I play in wee games in training and I hate losing, I play wee games with my kids and I hate losing, they’re not going to turn up for a Championship game and it not kill them to lose a game.

"They’re going to do everything to win the game and so they should, it will be another tough match.

“It’s perfect though, us as players, we want to play all the time.

"Our body probably tells us we can’t at times, but it’s the same for them, it’s the same for everyone.

"We’ll prepare, come in, recover and then look forward to the game.”

With just four matches to go, Luton are now within touching distance of being in with a chance of playing Premier League football next term via the play-offs.

Becoming a top flight club for the first time since the 1991-92 season is not something that the players have discussed in any great detail though, with Naismith continuing: “I’d be lying if we don’t go in and check the league table and see where are sitting, ‘where’s that, right okay, we maybe need to win two or three more.’

"We do that stuff, but we say like ‘listen, we want to do something special, we want to do something together for the fans, for everyone.’

"We speak about that, but we never really sit around and have a coffee and say, ‘come on, lets get to the Premier League.’

"I think that’s all individually our dreams as footballers, to play for your country, play in the Premier League, you’ve got to dream big.

"For me personally, that is a dream and that will always be a dream.

"It’s just about taking it game by game, nothing’s done yet, my god, we’ve got tough, tough games to go, so we’ll recover from this one and go again.”

Whatever happens to the Hatters this term though, one thing Naismith knows his side won’t be lacking in is heart, adding: “We’ve had a couple of off days, but it would be tough to beat us for heart, determination, togetherness, will to win, team spirit.

"I don’t think you’ll find another team better than what we’ve got here.”