Match Day Thread Luton Town v Preston North End Kenilworth Road 12/12/2020

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LAST TIME OUT

COVENTRY CITY 0 LUTON TOWN 0

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PRESTON NORTH END 3 MIDDLESBROUGH 0

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LAST SEASON

LUTON TOWN 1 PRESTON NORTH END 1

A game we should have absolutely cruised but Jones's use of the substitutes made the difference in the end and they levelled just before the end, had a ticket for the behind closed doors games, probably the closest I'll ever get to getting in through the away end.

FORM GUIDE

LUTON TOWN 6 PRESTON NOTH END 9

LUTON NEWBIES

Morrell, Lockyer and Dewsbury-Hall

MACS VIEW

Whisper it quietly we may just be getting our act together, three games unbeaten and a thumping big home win to boot, however this is a difficult game not only do we have to face 11 on the pitch we will also have a ground with fans in although not many but will make a difference to the way the game is played.
Town escaped relegation after putting a good run together when the season restarted under returning manager Nathan Jones, they have started the season decently flirting with the play off zone earlier on, but now are one place below us on the same points but have a -6 goal difference.
Surprised how well James Collins has done in the Championship doesn't miss from the spot and weighs in with his far share of goals as well as that. Moncur has caused us misery before. Tight ground fans will make a difference .

FAMOUS LUTON FOLK

Stephen Richard Lyster Clark (born 30 October 1945) is an English philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Liverpool.[3] Clark specialises in the philosophy of religion and animal rights, writing from a philosophical position that might broadly be described as Christian Platonist. He is the author of twenty books, including The Moral Status of Animals (1977), The Nature of the Beast (1982), Animals and Their Moral Standing (1997), G.K. Chesterton (2006), Philosophical Futures (2011), and Ancient Mediterranean Philosophy (2012), as well as 77 scholarly articles, and chapters in another 109 books.[4][5] He is a former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Philosophy (1990–2001).[4]

 

A trip to Kenilworth Road was the Lilywhites’ very first game back after the Spring lockdown, as football returned back in June and it is therefore perhaps fitting that it is the first ground we visit with 2,000 spectators under the new tiered system, this time around.

Alex Neil’s side played in front of 1,000 fans at Norwich City back in September, but this will be the biggest crowd they have faced since March, which should add a different and more real element back to the game.

The Hatters have had a good start to the season. The aforementioned game in June was Nathan Jones’ first back as manager at the Bedfordshire club and he has done a good job in making them a force again in 2020/21.

The Lilywhites are in good form ahead of the game, however, and will look to continue their excellent away form. Both managers took the chance to make the trip to see their opposition in midweek and both will be going for the win come 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

Team News
Alex Neil had Andrew Hughes and Josh Earl back from injury for Wednesday night’s win over Middlesbrough at Deepdale, going from famine to feat in terms of full back availability in the face of a week!

He always welcomes back Daniel Johnson after suspension for the trip south, but is still without Patrick Bauer (Achilles), Ben Pearson (ankle), Louis Moult and Billy Bodin (both knee) and Paul Gallagher (hamstring).

Nathan Jones has defender Matty Pearson back available after serving a one-match ban following his red card at Swansea City, plus fellow defender James Bree, who sat out Tuesday’s game against Coventry City due to a groin issue, should also be fine to return.

Goalkeeper Simon Sluga, on loan Sheffield United man Rhys Norrington-Davies and Martin Cranie, who were also absent from the matchday squad in midweek continue their recoveries.

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Match Officials
Taking charge of Saturday’s match official is Jeremy Simpson, making his second trip to Kenilworth Road this season, having officiated their 2-0 home defeat to Stoke City back in September.

Jeremy was the man in the middle for PNE’s trip to Barnsley late in the first month of this year, having also been the official at Cardiff City just before last Christmas and our penultimate home game of 2019/20, against Nottingham Forest in July.

This will be his tenth match of the season, having so far issued a total of 28 cautions and three red cards. He will be assisted by Lee Venamore and Richard Wild, while the fourth official will be Sunny Gill.

Opposition View
Mick Harford told lutontown.co.uk after Tuesday’s goalless draw at Coventry City: “Preston was Nathan’s [Jones] first game back when he came back to the football club.

“They were a tough ask, Callum McManaman got a late goal and they played well on that day, we got a draw out of it.

“Good club, good team, good players, a real tough opposition we have been able to look at, myself and Nathan [both attending the Boro game on Wednesday), so it’s another tough game in the Championship as always.”

 

1 down

 

2 down

 

Collins hat trick

 

Luton Town 3 Preston North End 0
Collins hat trick
The Hatters striker struck twice in ten minutes either side of the first half’s midway point and then added a third shortly after the hour mark to give Nathan Jones’ side the win.

The Lilywhites were unchanged from their midweek win over Middlesbrough and they had the best of the chances in the opening period of the game.

The first of those came on 11 minutes as they worked the ball well and Darnell Fisher won a free kick on the right, that Ryan Ledson swung in and former Luton loanee Jayden Stockley got up and headed down, into the ground, but up and over the bar.

Three minutes later Tom Barkhuizen did well down the right, before checking back in onto his left foot, driving a shot goalwards, but it was straight at James Shea in the home side’s goal.

The last of those chances came on 18 minutes as another Ledson set piece, this time from a corner on the right, found skipper Alan Browne making good movement to be able to connect with a right-foot half-volley, but he too fired into the ground and the ball bounced up and over Shea’s bar.

The hosts had the lead though on 20 minutes as a long ball over the top was chested down by Luton frontman Collins and he fired low into the bottom right-hand corner, Declan Rudd having no chance.

And he made it two just before the half hour mark, as a left-wing corner was recycled on the right and delivered back into a crowded six-yard box by Glen Rea and Collins was there to head home from a couple of yards out.

At the interval, manager Alex Neil tried to change the momentum of the game, making a double change – Daniel Johnson and Jordan Storey on for Ledson and Paul Huntington and he threw on his other three changes before hour mark, Emil Riis, Sean Maguire and Tom Bayliss on for Stockley, Barkhuizen and Brad Potts.

But it was the home side who got the decisive third goal of the game on 66 minutes, when Collins completed his hat-trick, firing into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal from 12 yards out.

Luton Town line-up: Shea, D Potts, Bradley (c), Pearson, Cornick (Clark, 75), Moncur (Norrington-Davies, 74), Lockyer (Berry, 80), Rea, Mpanzu (Tunnicliffe, 80), Collins (Nombe, 83), Dewsbury-Hall. Subs not used: Isted, Cranie, Isted, Norrington-Davies, LuaLua, Morrell.

PNE line-up: Rudd, Fisher, Hughes, Ledson (Johnson, 46), Huntington (Storey, 46), Davies, Barkhuizen (Maguire, 57), Browne (c), Stockley (Riis, 57), Potts (Bayliss, 60), Sinclair. Subs not used: Ripley, Earl, Bayliss, Gallagher, Rafferty.

Referee: Mr J Simpson

Attendance: 2,000

Luton Town manager Nathan Jones told BBC Three Counties Radio:

"I thought we were excellent from start to finish. I thought the energy and the aggression showed that we're competing at this level.

"Preston did have the best away record in the league. They've got very good players and are a really difficult side to play against, so for us to win the game in the manner we did, I'm very proud.

"I definitely would have taken 200 games managing this football club and if someone had said I could win 100 of those, I'd have snapped their hand off."

Preston North End manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I didn't see it coming, if I'm being honest. We've been in good form and I thought in our last game we played great against Middlesbrough.

"I went with the same starting eleven because of how well they did. But if we're being brutally honest, they played exactly the same way we did, except they did it a lot better than us.

"We had two or three decent opportunities before they scored - after that, they got a goal which was really straight forward, and from that point onwards I thought they were the better side."