Tuesday 25 September 2007

Luton preview

It will be a much changed Charlton side that appears at Kenilworth Road tonight as Pards seeks to protect his key players in advance of tough away games at Coventry and Hull. Darren Randolph may well appear in goal. Chris Powell has tired himself out with his after match celebrations and with Thatcher still out, Sankofa may appear at left back. Matt Holland may be given a chance in midfield. In any event, Alan Pardew has plenty of options.

I would rather that we didn't go out of the League Cup to a League 1 side. It would be good to get a lucrative fixture against a Premiership club. However, I am not that bothered. Getting promotion is the key target, the FA Cup comes next and the League Cup a poor third. At least it is an opportunity to give some players a competitive game.

The last time I went to Kenilworth Road it seemed as if I had to go through a passageway in a terraced house and climb up some steps in their back garden to get into the away end. Gary Nelson scored the winner in front of the cameras. This was at a time when Luton would have been seen as a bigger club than us.

I won't be there tonight as I will be locked down in a country club near Cricklade trying to decide how the Government's bioenergy research budget should be spent.

One of the favourite songs at Leamington is 'Are we watching Coven-tree, you're having a laugh, we're watching Leamington FCee'. Brakes fans took pleasure in winning the Lord Mayor's Cup this year 1-0 after being thumped 5-0 the previous year (Sky Blues usually put out a lot of their first team). As the week goes on we shall be building up to the Coventry match with a series of special features.

Discussion of the Llanera episode can be found at our sister site run from Spain, Football Economy

No comments: