PREVIEW: LUTON TOWN (H)

8 July 2020

All you need to know ahead of Friday night’s Sky Bet Championship game

- A match preview ahead of Huddersfield Town vs Luton Town
- The lowdown on Nathan Jones’ Hatters
- Watch the game on Sky Sports or iFollow HTAFC

Huddersfield Town return to the John Smith’s Stadium to host Luton Town in the Sky Bet Championship on Friday 10 July 2020; 6pm kick-off.

The Terriers go into the game looking to build on three successive clean sheets and five points from their last three games.

After beating Birmingham City last week, Danny Cowley’s side have played out goalless draws with Preston North End and Reading.

The stalemate at the Madejski Stadium moved Town on to 47 points and up to 18th place in the Sky Bet Championship table, ahead of Wednesday evening’s fixtures.

Town will be looking to produce a better result than the one they got in the reverse fixture back in August, when they lost 2-1 to the Hatters at Kenilworth Road.

THE OPPOSITION

There’s a familiar face back in the Luton Town ranks since the restart, with Nathan Jones returning as Manager following the departure of his namesake Graeme Jones during the season’s suspension.

The former returned to the Club in May, having guided the Hatters to promotion from League 2 and to the top end of the League 1 table before leaving for Stoke City in January 2019.

Jones has had mixed fortunes since his return, but crucially his side have continued to pick up points in search of a way out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone.

Despite currently being at the foot of the table in 24th, Luton have only lost one of Jones’ first five games back in charge – a 5-0 defeat at home to Reading.

Elsewhere, they have drawn with Preston North End, Leeds United and, most recently, Barnsley whilst impressively overcoming Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.

Following recent results, and a run that has seen them only lose three of their last 11 games in total, they are currently four points adrift of a spot outside the relegation zone, and six behind Town.

The Hatters are yet to lose on the road since the restart and will be looking to extend that run when they visit West Yorkshire on Friday evening.

ONES TO WATCH

MATTY PEARSON

Pearson, most frequently deployed as a defender, signed for the Hatters upon their promotion to League 1 from Barnsley in 2018. In his first season with the Club, he was the only Luton Town player to start all 46 of their league games as they topped the third tier and were promoted to the Championship in 2018/19. This season, he has featured from the start in all but one of the Bedfordshire Club’s league games; that being Tuesday night’s draw with Barnsley.

Matty Pearson.jpg

IZZY BROWN

Isaiah ‘Izzy’ Brown is a name well known to Town fans, after the winger spent the second half of the 2016/17 promotion-winning season with the Terriers, on loan from Chelsea. After five goals and picking up an assist in his 21 Town appearances, the attacking midfielder had loan spells at Brighton & Hove Albion as well as at Leeds United before joining Luton Town on loan for the 2019/20 season. Coming towards the end of his spell with the Hatters, Brown tops the team’s charts for assists this season with seven in the Sky Bet Championship.

Izzy Brown Luton.jpg

JAMES COLLINS

The forward, who came through the youth ranks at Aston Villa, joined the Hatters in 2017 after a single season with Crawley Town. He became an instant Hatters hero, scoring a hat-trick on his debut against Yeovil Town, before going on to help Luton achieve promotion to League 1. Having then won the League 1 Player of the Year last season, Collins is enjoying his time in the Championship with the Club, topping their scoring charts with 12 league goals to his name.

Luton James Collins 16_9.jpg

TEAM NEWS – TOWN

Manager Danny Cowley will provide an update on the fitness of his squad, including that of Fraizer Campbell who missed the Reading trip, ahead of Friday’s game during his virtual press conference on Thursday 9 July 2020.

Tommy Elphick is Town’s only long-term absentee (knee). Juninho Bacuna could return to the team.

TEAM NEWS – LUTON TOWN

Former Town loanee Izzy Brown missed the Hatters’ 1-1 draw with Barnsley on Tuesday evening with an Achilles injury and could miss out on a return to the John Smith’s Stadium on Friday.

KIT

Town will be back in the blue-and-white striped home kit for Friday evening’s game – CLICK HERE to get yours!

iFollow HTAFC

As well as being broadcast on Sky Sports, the game will be available to watch live, in full, on iFollow HTAFC.

2019/20 Season Card holders who have not taken a refund or e-credit will again have free access to the game.

Supporters who are not Season Card holders can buy a match pass to watch the game for £10 - click HERE for more info!

Town's match previews are sponsored by Stafflex!

Match Reports

REPORT: TOWN 0-2 LUTON

10 July 2020

Huddersfield Town fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat against Luton Town at the John Smith’s Stadium.

After Town had the best of the chances in the first 45, second half goals from Sonny Bradley and Elliot Lee were enough for the visitors to take all three Sky Bet Championship points from West Yorkshire.

Danny Cowley made two changes to the Town starting XI for the visit of the Hatters, with Lewis O’Brien and Fraizer Campbell both coming back into the side from the start.

There was also a welcome return to the squad for Juninho Bacuna who was named on the bench following a three-match suspension.

A pleasant early Friday evening in West Yorkshire set the scene for a game with high importance in shaping the picture around the bottom end of the Sky Bet Championship table.

It was Town who started the brighter of the sides in the sunshine and were rewarded with the game’s first opportunity after some good work from Frazier Campbell.

The returning forward showed why Danny Cowley had placed an emphasis on having his ‘number nines’ back fit in recent weeks, winning the ball back high up the pitch before setting in Emile Smith Rowe who saw his effort blocked.

From the resulting corner, Jon Gorenc Stanković found himself in space and met the corner from the right, but his header was gathered by Luton ‘keeper Simon Sluga.

The Town defender had been important in defending his own box during Tuesday’s goalless draw with Reading but was continuing to cause a nuisance of himself in Luton’s area in the opening 20 minutes.

Having got forward for another corner from the right, the defender got his head on the ball but couldn’t get a clean contact with Sluga again there to put an end to the threat.

After the drinks break, the Terriers continued to keep Sluga on his toes. This time, Lewis O’Brien dug out a shot from deep that found the ‘keeper’s arms.

In a half that produced little chances, it was set pieces that were again an outlet for Town in the final action of the half.

Stanković was prominent once more, knocking the ball in the direction of Captain Christopher Schindler but his centre-back partner couldn’t get a telling enough connection with referee Geoff Eltringham’s whistle going soon after to signal the interval.

After the break, it was the visitors who got on to the front foot first and found the breakthrough on 48 minutes.

Hatters Captain Sonny Bradley rose highest to meet a corner from the left and head the visitors into an early second half lead.

James Collins nearly doubled the advantage soon after, cutting in from the left, but his curling effort went narrowly wide of the far post.

Moments before the halfway mark in the second 45, the Terriers had their best opportunity of the game so far as they went in search of an equaliser.

After some clever footwork, Smith Rowe worked some space in a tight area just inside the box but dragged his snapshot just wide of the goal.

Despite that, it was the visitors who got the game’s next goal. After Collins’ initial effort had come back off the post, Elliot Lee fired the rebound past Jonas Lössl to make it 2-0 with just over 20 minutes left to play.

Pushing for a way back into the game late on, substitutes Steve Mounié and Alex Pritchard had Town’s best chances, but neither could find the target as the visitors held on for all three points at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Next up for Town is a short trip to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday in a Yorkshire derby in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday 14 July 2020; 7.45pm kick-off.

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (4-2-3-1)

Jonas Lössl; Harry Toffolo, Christopher Schindler (c), Jon Gorenc Stanković, Trevoh Chalobah; Lewis O’Brien (Juninho Bacuna, 64’), Jonathan Hogg (Andy King, 64’); Karlan Grant, Emile Smith Rowe, Chris Willock (Alex Pritchard, 75’); Fraizer Campbell (Steve Mounié, 55’)

Unused subs

Joel Coleman; Elias Kachunga, Richard Stearman, Jaden Brown, Demeaco Duhaney

LUTON TOWN (4-3-1-2)

Simon Sluga; Dan Potts, Sonny Bradley (c), Cameron Carter-Vickers, James Bree; Andrew Shinnie (Martin Cranie, 90+5’), Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Luke Berry; Elliot Lee (Kazenga LuaLua, 80’); James Collins (Danny Hylton, 80’), Harry Cornick (Callum McManaman, 68’)

Unused subs

James Shea; Ryan Tunnicliffe, George Moncur, Jacob Butterfield, Peter Kioso

REFEREE

Geoff Eltringham

Standings