League Two Form Guide

		P	GD	Pts
1	Shrewsbury	6	+6	15
2	Crewe	6	+3	13
3	MK Dons	6	+4	12
4	Cambridge Utd	6	+6	11
5	Chesterfield	6	+4	11
6	Oldham	6	+4	11
7	Grimsby	6	+2	11
8	Fleetwood Town	6	+2	11
9	Notts County	6	+5	10
10	Swindon	6	+3	10
11	Bromley	6	+2	10
12	Barnet	6	0	10
13	Harrogate Town	6	+1	9
14	Colchester	6	0	7
15	Bristol Rovers	6	-1	7
16	Newport County	6	-1	7
17	Cheltenham	6	-2	6
18	Accrington Stanley	6	-3	6
19	Gillingham	6	-4	6
20	Walsall	6	-6	4
21	Barrow	6	-4	3
22	Salford	6	-6	3
23	Tranmere	6	-8	3
24	Crawley Town	6	-8	2

Full Form Table
Prem|Champ|L1|NL|VN|VS
SPL|SC|S1|S2

Luton Preview

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 21/08/2003

GRIMSBY head to Luton this Saturday hoping to put behind them a miserable week where they crashed out of the Carling Cup, and then went on to lose at home to Port Vale in the opening game at Blundell Park.

Home > 2003-2004 Season > Previews > Luton (a)

After a week that centred around referees and red cards, Town will be looking to get back to playing matters and get some league points on the board against a Luton Town outfit who have won both of their opening league games and knocked Yeovil Town out of the Carling Cup.

Recent Form

Town

Luton

L	Port Vale	(h)	1-2
L	Doncaster	(a)	2-3
D	Plymouth	(a)	2-2

W	Stockport	(a)	2-1
W	Yeovil (cup)	(h)	4-1
W	Rushden	(h)	3-1

Unlike Grimsby, Luton have got off two a 100% start in the 2003-2004 campaign with an opening day win over Rushden and Diamonds followed by an impressive 4-1 cup victory against Third Division Yeovil. Last weekend saw the Hatters secure their first league points on the road after a 2-1 win at Stockport's Edgeley Park.

Luton Facts

Last Season

9th in Division Two. Luton's first priority is to sort out their financial problems, but the appointment of Mike Newell over the summer could be a shrewd acquisition despite the controversy surrounding his employment, and his team have got off to a dream start.

Manager

Mike Newell. Appointed during a turbulent summer after the club was taken over by a secretive consortium of investors in May, who promptly dismissed then-manager Joe Kinnear, before themselves losing control of the club later in the summer. Newell guided Third Division Hartlepool to promotion to Division Two last season in his first managerial position.

Top Players

Tony Thorpe (left). Much-travelled striker now in his fourth spell at Kenilworth Road, the former Bristol City and Fulham front man is hoping to regain the form which saw him leave Luton for a seven figure sum back in 1998.

Steve Howard. Former Hartlepool and Northampton forward who won the 2001-2002 Player of the Season award and the Division Three Golden Boot in Luton's recent promotion season.

Team News

Town

Luton

Paul Groves has no new injury problems and suspensions will not start until next week, although John McDermott has had two outings for the reserves this week, but is not expected to step up to first team duty for another seven days.

Long-term injury trio Alan Pouton, Stacy Coldicott and Phil Jevons are still a little way off full fitness.

This means that we can expect an another unchanged lineup for the Mariners from the one that started against Plymouth, Doncaster and Port Vale.

Luton midfielder Matthew Spring missed the 2-1 win at Stockport but returned to training this week and should go into the starting line-up.

Otherwise Luton, like the Mariners, have no fresh injury worries are expected to keep faith with the side that won at Stockport last weekend.

Probable Starting XI's

Town

Luton

Aidan Davison

Jason Crowe

Darren Barnard

Tony Crane

Simon Ford

Marcel Cas

Iain Anderson

Des Hamilton

Stuart Campbell (C)

Michael Boulding

Laurens Ten Heuvel.

Beckwith

Foley

Coyne

Boyce

Spring

Nicholls

Hughes

Neilson

Pitt

Thorpe

Howard

Subs

Town

Luton

Mike Edwards

Paul Groves

Jonathan Rowan

Darren Mansaram

Andy Pettinger (GK)

Brkovic

Brill

Crowe

Hillier

Bayliss

On This Day

August 23rd 2000

Lennie Lawrence met with the Grimsby Town board to discuss becoming Grimsby Town manager just two days after Alan Buckley was sacked on August 21st, 2000.

Luton recorded a dismal 0-0 draw at home to Peterborough United watched by just 3,175 spectators at Kenilworth Road .

Last Time Out

The Mariners last entertained Luton in the Second Division, back in Town's famous 1997/1998 promotion season at Blundell Park, where Grimsby lost 1-0. The game was shortly after Grimsby's AWS triumph against Burnley, and came during a particularly sticky spell before the Mariners finished the season on a high in the Play-Off final at Wembley.

Town Team: Davison, Butterfield, Gallimore, Handyside, Lever (Dobbin), Burnett, Donovan, David Smith (Black), Clare, Lester (Woods), Groves

Luton Team: Davis, James, Thomas, Waddock, Patterson, Alan White, Marshall (Evers), McLaren, Oldfield (Gray), Allen (Doherty), Alexander

Attendance: 4,455

Luton Head-to-Head (39th on The Opposition Ladder).

Prediction

Fishy prediction: 2-2 draw

Reader's POMs

Directions

Click on the link for directions to Kenilworth Road (left).

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