Hatters welcome back Drury and Edwards as Ipswich name strong squad

The 28-year-old spent half a season at Luton, quickly becoming a crowd favourite, with some fine goals, none better than a stunning long range finish in the FA Cup 2-2 draw at Charlton Athletic.

Such impressive displays though meant it was inevitable he would be snapped up as the Tractor Boys shelled out £150k for his services in the January 2011 transfer window.

His time at Portman Road has been up and down, as he moved to Crawley on loan last season, but returned to break into Paul Jewell’s first team plans once more.

Neilson said: “It will be good to see Dukes come back.

“I still text him now and again. A few of the lads still speak to him too. He did well for the club and the club did well out of it as well.

“He got his move to Ipswich and the club got decent money for him.”

Drury isn’t the only former Luton player returning as winger Carlos Edwards has been named in the squad too.

The 33-year-old made over 50 appearances for Hatters between 2005-2007 before joining Sunderland in a £1.4m deal.

Ipswich have picked a side packed with Premier League experience, with Jimmy Bullard, Nathan Ellington, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Michael Chopra and Jason Scotland all travelling.

Midfielder Cheick Kourouma, who made his first Town appearance in the win over Braintree, as well as recent loan signing Massimo Luongo who impressed in Wednesday’s win over Cambridge, are also expected to feature.

Neilson added: “They are looking to bring their starting eleven down as they are working towards their first game of the season.

“It’s a real good test. They’ve beaten Cambridge with Chopra scoring two goals which I saw on Sky. They’re a good side and have got good players.

“Pre-season has gone really, really well for us. We planned for this week to be a hard week.

“We played last Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, had a game on Thursday and now another one on Saturday.”

Ipswich squad: Jack Ainsley, Jimmy Bullard, Josh Carson, Luke Chambers, Michael Chopra, Aaron Creswell, Damien Delaney, Andy Drury, Carlos Edwards, Nathan Ellington, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Luke Hyam, Cheick Kourouma, Byron Lawrence, Arran Lee-Barrett, Scott Loach, Massimo Luongo, Jason Scotland, Ryan Stevenson, Joe White.

For all the latest Luton Town FC news, reports, stats, player profiles, live match updates, prediction table and a complete fixture list, visit our Hatters Microsite.