Odoffin starts as Hatters make five changes for Northampton tie

Summer signing Hakeem Odoffin makes his first start for the Hatters since late November as one of five changes that Luton boss Jack Wilshere has made for this evening’s Vertu Trophy semi-final tie against fellow League One side Northampton Town at Kenilworth Road.

The 27-year-old had a brief cameo during Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Port Vale, but has been deemed fit enough to begin from the opening whistle, along with Mads Andersen and Gideon Kodua, who were absent at the weekend. Deadline day addition Davy van den Berg was also included, along with James Shea, while Nigel Lonwijk, George Saville, Josh Keeley and Joe Johnson dropped to the bench, where they were joined by Devante Cole, although Izzy Jones missed out completely.

Town go into the game not in the best of form themselves, having drawn the last two games 1-1 at relegation threatened Burton Albion and bottom side Port Vale, stretching their winless run in the league to four matches, after losing at both Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic. Although the weekend’s point at Vale Park didn’t do much to boost Town’s chances of the play-offs, the fact it ended a run of six straight losses outside of Bedfordshire had to be viewed as a positive for Wilshere.

He said: “We have to as that’s the reality of where we’re at. I’ve said that a lot, away from home we haven’t got the results that we wanted and there’s a reason for that. We haven’t been good enough away from home, we haven’t been consistent enough, we haven’t had enough threat. If you think about it, a lot of the games have been 1-0, so they’ve been close games and it was about having the belief or having the confidence to take that and keep doing what we were doing in the game, and we didn’t do it.

"So we have to take positives from that, of course we understand that Port Vale are bottom of the league and we want to go there and be a team that wins those games, but we don’t have any given right to just turn up and win a game. We have to understand that reams are fighting for their lives and I feel like we are fighting as well. You can see that in the players and I want the players to keep that and just show a little bit more quality at times.”

Hatters: James Shea, Hakeem Odoffin, Mads Andersen ©, Kal Naismith, Gideon Kodua, Liam Walsh, Davy van den Berg, Jordan Clark, Jake Richards, Emilio Lawrence, Nahki Wells. Subs: Josh Keeley, Shayden Morris, Nigel Lonwijk, Devante Cole, George Saville, Joe Johnson, Kasey Palmer.

Cobblers: Ross Fitzsimons, Conor McCarthy, Jordan Willis ©, Elliot List, Kamarai Swyer, Tyrese Fornah, Michael Jacobs, Terry Taylor, Kyle McAdam, Jack Vale, Max Dyche. Subs: Lee Burge, Dean Campbell, Sam Hoskins, Cameron McGeehan, Jake Evans, Michael Forbes, Jack Perkins. Referee: Tom Reeves.