Now or never for Luton Town?
As the curtain prepares to close on the Championship season, there are still plenty of storylines to be concluded, and in terms of the battle for promotion, there are few soap opera dramas that could hold a candle to the tension heading into the final matchday of the second tier. Indeed, with Nottingham Forest losing to Bournemouth, the Cherries secured automatic promotion alongside champions Fulham, meaning teams will have to rely on the play-offs to reach the promised land of the Premier League.
You could cut the tension with a knife heading into the final day. The chance of going to Wembley could define a side’s future, perhaps no more so than in the case of Luton Town. The Hatters are on a magic-carpet ride of year — something redolent of a fairy-tale — and their romance with the play-offs, who few would have predicted them to be flirting with in the odds on the English Football League Championship, is one that has pulled on the heartstrings of neutrals across the country.
It started with their remarkable FA Cup run. Overachievers that were seen as nothing more than a ragtag group of top flight rejects, with the likes of Robert Snodgrass and Cameron Jerome the personification of mediocrity over the last couple of years. However, the Hatters made Kenilworth Road a fortress, with terraced housing a prominent feature of defence, and while Chelsea did eventually breach their guard with a 3-2 win in the round of 16, it set up a remarkable run of form that has carried right on through until May.
Their league form is largely down to the success of manager Nathan Jones. Having recently been voted the Championship’s Manager of the Season, the Welshman has inspired Luton to the brink of something special, but you do get the sense that it’s now or never if his side are to go up. Just two years ago, they were 19th in the table and hanging on by the skin of their teeth, but since Jones’ appointment, they changed people’s expectations in terms of the Championship tips and a final day home game against Reading could see them earn a famous play-off place.
Of course, this is the Championship and things won’t be straight forward. The league’s unpredictability, coupled with other teams having favourable matches to, like Middlesbrough’s trip to 14th-pace Preston, means that Luton could still not be guaranteed a place in the play-offs if they do fail to beat Reading. Their goal difference is less than Millwall and Middlesborough and that is largely down to their recent thrashing at the hands of Fulham.
Jones will need to rally his troops after the 7-0 defeat at Craven Cottage — a humbling experience that would have served as a genuine reality check. An injury-stricken side hobbled into west London and were rightly thrashed after a dismal display. If Luton do perform a miracle and go up, Hatters fans might have to get used to these score lines, as their leaky defence would simply welter against the more proficient sides in the Premier League. You could only imagine the kind of damage Mohamed Salah or Heung-min Son would have dealt had they been at their best that bank holiday.
Jones has tried to justify their big loss with their injury situation, but with the promotion push in jeopardy, he made it no secret how important the weekend’s game will be. “It was a real tough day,” he said. “A real tough game to watch.
“I haven’t felt like that in my career before if I’m honest, but they are the best team in the league, congratulations to them. They have a fantastic side, the only equivalent I can say is we have nine injuries, nine first-team injuries.”
“We have been magnificent, every single thing is going against us in terms of injuries so what we have to do is dust ourselves off and we’re ready to go on the weekend.”
