PREVIEW: Salisbury City v Luton Town

They currently sit in sixth place just one point away from the top five, thanks mainly to a fantastic home record that is only bettered by Luton, Cambridge and FC Halifax, with 12 wins, three draws and two defeats from their 17 games.

Recent home form has been excellent as Salisbury have not lost in front of their own fans since November 26, when they were hammered 4-1 by Forest Green.

Since then they have won four and drawn two of their six encounters, beating Woking 2-0 last time out.

Three away games since the Cards triumph has seen their play-off hopes take a minor blow as they have only taken three points, with two defeats, and a recent run of six losses from 10 has seen them drop out of the top five.

The Whites strengthened recently though, signing defender Kevin Amankwaah on a free transfer after he was released by League Two Northampton Town.

The club also had reason to celebrate as Dan Fitchett, Elliott Frear and Angus Macdonald all played for England C, along with Town’s Andre Gray and Fraser Franks, in the 1-0 win over Jordan in Amman on Tuesday.

Despite their lofty position this season, results are failing to attract the supporters as City still average just 867, below their 1,300 target.

To try and boost numbers, boss Mikey Harris and his players have visited local schools to hold question and answer sessions - and hand out complimentary tickets to pupils.

Harris recently told BBC Wiltshire: “We don’t understand why we are so down on numbers.

“What we need to do if we want to progress is to grow that core of people.

“Fundamentally, my budget is based on the income of the club. We want to progress and we’ve shown we are capable of progressing on the pitch.

“If people want a professional team in this city then they need to get out and back the club.”

Recent signing Amankwaah, making his home debut this weekend, is hoping that with Hatters already selling over 1,500 tickets, the home fans come out in their numbers too.

He told the Salisbury Journal: “I can’t wait to make my home debut against the top of the league, which will be a good test for all of us.

“The greater the atmosphere, the greater the game as you can rise to the occasion. I’d appeal to the Salisbury fans to come down in their numbers and cheer us on.

“Luton are flying high but you have to go into every game confident and we have a good home record and will be no push-over, but a lot of hard work will be involved.

“We’ll try our best and hopefully come out on top.

“We don’t want to go into the game thinking Luton have a home match. At the moment they probably have more fans than us but hopefully the home supporters will come out in full swing.

“It’s always good if you’ve got fans to roar you on. A big crowd could be the 12th man.”

There was good news for the club in December too when it was announced they had officially come out of adminstration.

Team news: Hatters will be without Luke Guttridge due to his ankle injury, while Danny Fitzsimons and Jonathan Smith are both long-term absentees.

Top Skrill Premier scorers: Salisbury: Dan Fitchett (13). Hatters: Andre Gray (25).

Average Skrill Premier crowds: Salisbury: 867. Hatters: 6,916.

Man in the middle: Daniel Cook - shown 55 yellows and three reds in the Conference so far this season.

Took Luton’s 4-2 win over Gateshead and has officiated Salisbury three times, with three wins for City against Wrexham and Macclesfield at home, plus away to Woking.

Most recently, he has been linesman at Wycombe and Cheltenham games in League Two, while he has also assisted in the Championship at Charlton and Bournemouth this season.

In charge: Mikey Harris. While a player at Salisbury, midfielder Harris also worked as a fitness coach and sports scientist for the team.

He was appointed assistant boss at the age of 23 during Tommy Widdrington’s tenure and remained in the job when team-mate Darrell Clarke took over as manager in 2010.

After Clarke moved to become Bristol Rovers assistant manager in the summer, Harris was appointed in July, becoming English football’s youngest full-time manager at just 28 years of age.

View from the opposition: Mikey Harris: “It’s unusual for our games to be all-ticket, but necessary when playing the giants of the Skrill Premier.

“Their fans could well outnumber ours, let’s try and match them though, in numbers and voice!

“We are certainly looking forward to the match and I’m sure it’s one many of you will have had one eye on since the fixtures were released, and more so now with Luton in incredible form.

“Their run comes under the guidance of manager John Still who is someone I have a lot of respect and admiration for.

“As a young manager it’s always good to have experienced people to call upon for advice, John has certainly been just that. He’s always available on the phone for advice and I am hugely grateful for this.

“His side have not lost a game since mid-September and we will be doing our best to put a mark in their book. It’s going to be a difficult task but one we are very much looking forward to.

“Hopefully we’ll have a full house at the Ray Mac and the atmosphere should be pretty special.

“It offers a great opportunity for our players to test themselves and illustrate just how well they can play against a team, which I believe, are champions elect.”

One to watch: Dan Fitchett - 22-year-old forward is City’s top scorer with 16 league and cup goals this season.

Went through a purple patch at one stage, bagging 13 goals in 15 games, before a drought of eight games followed.

Back in form now though as he’s netted three in his last three games, and featured against Jordan for England C in the week.

Friendly faces: Warren Feeney, 33-year-old, who joined Luton in March 2005 after being signed for £150,000 from Stockport and scored 11 goals in 83 games for the club.

Left Kenilworth Road to join Cardiff on loan in May 2007, making the move permanent later in the year.

Had spells at Swansea, Dundee United, Sheff Wed, Oldham and Plymouth before moving to Salisbury in the summer as player/assistant manager and has made 15 league appearances without scoring.

Ben Wright also played for Town, making five appearances on loan from Peterborough during September 2009 and October 2009, scoring once for the club.

Played for Grimsby, Barnet, Hayes & Yeading, Crawley, Braintree and Forest Green since leaving Kenilworth Road, and joined Salisbury in the summer.

This term, he has scored five goals in 20 league appearances, but recently had his loan deal at Eastleigh extended until the end of the season.

Meanwhile, both City’s Rob and Stuart Sinclair, started their careers at Kenilworth Road.

We’ve got form: Town have never lost to Salisbury in their three previous meetings, with two win and one draw to their name.

Hatters won 2-0 at Kenilworth Road earlier in the season thanks to Solomon Taiwo’s penalty and Luke Guttridge’s close range header.

In the 2009-10 campaign, Town drew 1-1 at The Raymond McEnhill Stadium and won the home game 4-0 with strikes from Claude Gnakpa, Tom Craddock, Jake Howells and Simon Heslop.

Last time out: Hatters have travelled to Salisbury once in their history, that in the Blue Square Bet Premier in September 2009.

The visitors moved in front when Kevin Gallen scored, while the prolific Matt Tubbs levelled just before half time.

Hatters: Mark Tyler, Alan White (Shane Blackett 68), George Pilkington, Claude Gnakpa (Asa Hall 59), Freddie Murray, Keith Keane, Adam Newton, Kevin Nicholls, Rossi Jarvis, Tom Craddock (Steve Basham 86), Kevin Gallen.

Subs not used: Shane Gore, George Donnelly

Attendance: 2,044.

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