Hatters duo set to serve their bans against Supermarine

The pair were each booked twice on the night and Town boss Gary Brabin admitted it was probably a blessing that their suspensions would be served in the FA Trophy first round tie against the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division strugglers.

He confirmed: “They will both be missing from tomorrow’s game.”

Striker Amari Morgan-Smith is still definitely out with a hamstring injury, but Town have no new injury problems for the clash as Brabin looks likely to field a number of the club’s talented youngsters.

Brabin continued: “Amari’s still out and JP Kissock hasn’t been well for the last two or three days.

“We are hoping so (to have Morgan-Smith back in the next couple of weeks) and he is slowly but surely moving forward.

“He was out on the pitch yesterday evening light jogging with the ball at his feet. That was a big plus for us.

“Obviously we would rather be getting league games under our belt and start getting some points on the board.

“But it’s another game to let us look at players on the fringe of things. It’s still an important game and will be taken appropriately.

“Young Alex Lacey will be involved tomorrow and JJ O’Donnell and we will see how JP Kissock is, he hasn’t been well this week, so we will see how he is.

“It will be a chance to give them a game as well as some other players who are going to need some minutes under their belts.”

And he believes the visitors will try and play football when they visit Kenilworth Road.

He said: “They do try and play football, they are a good footballing side. There are a lot of non-league clubs who are big and physical and try and spoil things, but this is a club who try to play football and you’ve got to respect them for that.

“But I’m more interested in our approach and the players I’m putting out and trust are more than good enough to win the game.”

The Luton chief admitted that the Trophy is sometimes seen by some managers as a hindrance but was adamant he didn’t want to devalue it, having twice appeared in finals himself.

Brabin added: “I don’t want to cheapen the competition as I’ve been lucky enough to play in the final of it as a player twice and have played at Wembley in the competition so it’s not something I would want to take cheaply.

“I think one of the problems most managers have with the competition is it does rearrange your fixture further on down the line the further you get on to it, so that’s always an issue. But at this early stage that’s not on the schedule at the moment.

“There’s no way on earth, no matter what the game might be, whether it be a friendly or anything, I don’t want to go into any game looking to lose the game. That isn’t in my make-up. I want to win every game.

“But it’s a good opportunity with Alex and JJ, they are two players I spoke to earlier in the season and told them they would be involved.

“I wanted to call them back from their loans because they are going to be involved with the first team squad over the Christmas period and certainly in the FA Trophy games.”