Kenilworth Road will host a match between two sides on opposite ends of comebacks tomorrow as Luton welcome Portsmouth to Bedfordshire.
Team News
Ben Davies is fit to play and will take his place in Paul Cook's starting line-up as the Pompey manager looks set to revert to the same starting eleven that are yet to be beaten in League Two now that Enda Stevens has completed his ban.
Dan Potts will miss out playing against the team he was once loaned to and midfielder Nathan Doyle will also be missing as they both have hamstring injuries. Welshman Alex Lawless should be available after sitting out Tuesday's League Cup defeat to Stoke through illness.
The Match
After what has been a mixed week for Pompey fans with allegations of racism following the League Cup defeat to Reading, we will all be hoping for something more to shout about this weekend other than Southampton's pitiful attempt at a European campaign (as funny as it was!)
Luton were second-favourites to win League Two behind Portsmouth at the start of the season but have had a poor start to the campaign with two draws and two defeats in their four league matches so far. In fact, since the turn of the year John Still's men have been in some woeful form and that has prompted some Hatters fans to question his position at the club.
As previously mentioned, Pompey produced a remarkable comeback to earn a draw with Morecambe. Luton, however, were two goals up at Yeovil last weekend only to lose 3-2 with Ryan Bird scoring a brace. If he can breach their defence twice there should be no reason why the likes of Gary Roberts or Matt Tubbs shouldn't score tomorrow.
However, it would be foolish to take the Hatters lightly, especially after the first half capitulation last Saturday. John Still has some quality players at his disposal with Craig Mackail-Smith the main man up front. Pompey fans will also know what a handful Paul Benson can be after his loan spell at Fratton Park a couple of seasons ago.
Still, this could be a good time to play Luton as their defence seems unsettled and Paul Cook will surely have told his players to give the opposition the respect they deserve as to avoid another first half nightmare. The hosts won't sit back like Crawley did so this should be an entertaining game of football.
And if Pompey can come away from this entertaining game with another win come the end of August then who knows just what this group of players could achieve come the end of the season?
Predicted Starting Line-Ups
Luton
GK: Mark TYLER
RB: Scott GRIFFITHS
CB: Steve McNULTY
CB: Scott CUTHBERT
LB: Luke WILKINSON
RM: Ryan HALL
CM: Johnathan SMITH
CM: Danny GREEN
LM: Cameron McGEEHAN
CF: Craig MACKAIL-SMITH
CF: Paul BENSON
Pompey
GK: Brian MURPHY
RB: Ben DAVIES
CB: Christian BURGESS
CB: Matt CLARKE
LB: Enda STEVENS
DM: Michael DOYLE
DM: Nigel ATANGANA
RM: Gareth EVANS
AM: Gary ROBERTS
LM: Kyle BENNETT
CF: Matt TUBBS
Last Time: Luton Town 1 Portsmouth 1 (League Two - 28/12/2014)
It seemed like it would be another away day horror show for Pompey after Luke Rooney gave the hosts the lead but Ryan Taylor equalised later with a somewhat fortuitous goal in the first half to earn a draw for the beleaguered Andy Awford.
My Prediction
This is a tough one to call as you'd expect Luton to get their act together eventually. However, this Pompey side is a confident one and so long as the defensive frailties of the past week are resolved, then there's enough going forward to win this match.
Luton Town 1 Portsmouth 2