Resilient Hatters ready for gutsy Guiseley

Luton now have Wembley in their sights but face a tough test to progress in the FA Trophy when they visit direct Lions in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

On the test, Town boss Richard Money, said: “They’ve only lost two games in their league all season, one at home and one away and they’re still in a position where they could win it, so a good team.

“Very direct. It’s not something we are not used to, we encountered it last Friday in Newport and need to a similarly resilient type of performance.

“We’ve already been to Corby and Welling and without being disrespectful they they weren’t the nicest of surroundings and it will be the same for the players at the weekend.

“This is going to take a very resilient and strong performance from the team.”

Money has plenty of unavailable players and confirmed that attackers Matthew Barnes-Homer and Amari Morgan-Smith had been dropped from the side that drew 1-1 at Newport County on Friday night.

On his options, he said: “Robbie Willmott and Paul Carden are cup tied. We still gave Shane Blackett and Ed Asafu-Adjaye on the injury list.

“Gleeson’s probably not available, Alex Lacey’s still not available, Dan Walker is still on loan at Cambridge and Adam Newton and Charlie Henry are still the long term injuries.”

Town’s youngsters performed admirably to get them through the early stages of the competition and Money was tight-lipped on whether any of them might figure again.

He said: “Those young players have done well to get ourselves through the early rounds.”

But he refused to underestimate Guiseley and their aspirations.

Money continued: “Ask Guiseley’s players what they are thinking Saturday and their football club.

“It’s a massive game for them and they will wan to get through and play at Wembley.

“All of those that have got knocked out in the Conference have got knocked out because they’ve been knocked out by better teams.”

But he admitted that victory would leave Luton with a potential fixture pile-up.

Money added: “In some ways it still is a distraction I guess.

“If we were able to win on Saturday we would have a very busy end of season.

“We’ve reached a stage in the competition where we now want to try and get as far as we can.

“The reality is if we were to win on Saturday we will have a game every midweek until the season finishes so that pretty much sums it up.”