Luton Town v Rovers Sat 21st Nov. 3pm

[darrenrover]

First game after the international break we face The Hatters at an empty Kenilworth Road.

It's the first of a series of 4 away games in the next 6. North End away is on the Tuesday after, with Barnsley and Millwall at home to follow and Brentford and Bristol City away after that.

A tough series of games where the aim should surely be a minimum haul of 12 points, starting with 3 here, if we are to have serious aspirations of promotion.

[rigger]

19 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

First game after the international break we face The Hatters at an empty Kenilworth Road.

It's the first of a series of 4 away games in the next 6. North End away is on the Tuesday after, with Barnsley and Millwall at home to follow and Brentford and Bristol City away after that.

A tough series of games where the aim should surely be a minimum haul of 12 points, starting with 3 here, if we are to have serious aspirations of promotion.

Get 12 points from the first four games, then see if we get anything from the next two.

[Gone to seed]

Eee, those were the days...

 Perhaps the guys can do something similar..? 

COYB!

[LeftWinger]

Was that cup game at Luton Samba's debut? I'm sure I remember him coming on and thinking he was just going to be a clumsy lump. What a top signing he turned out to be.

[darrenrover]

Remember Glenn Keeley, Len Fuccilo, Jimmy Hill and an ice bound Ewood with orange lines!

[Sparks Rover]

Remember going down to Kenilworth Road with Junior Rovers in the 80s....we played their Junior Hatters in a 5 a side before the game.....

A great day.

[Mercer]

A horrible ground in a horrible town.

[simongarnerisgod]

never been myself,however my mate insists you have to go through someones back garden to get to the entrance to the away end??!!is this true?

[darrenrover]

21 hours ago, Mercer said:

A horrible ground in a horrible town.

Dally Duncan, Ray Harford and Mike Newell all loved the place!  not!

(All managed Luton with Rovers' contacts)

Edited November 12, 2020 by darrenrover

[philipl]

37 minutes ago, Mercer said:

A horrible ground in a horrible town.

That alleyway to get to the turnstiles!

We have a pretty good record against Luton or did until last season's extreme charity.

Game seems an eternity away.

Horrible feeling we are going to see the worst Rovers line-up yet. Not because of a Mowbray brain freeze but because of Covid.

All four analysts got it- what do they do all day? Sit in little booths with each of our players.

Kominsky got it so it is a pretty fair bet the entire Rovers playing squad has been infected.

[AllRoverAsia]

1 minute ago, philipl said:

That alleyway to get to the turnstiles!

We have a pretty good record against Luton or did until last season's extreme charity.

Game seems an eternity away.

Horrible feeling we are going to see the worst Rovers line-up yet. Not because of a Mowbray brain freeze but because of Covid.

All four analysts got it- what do they do all day? Sit in little booths with each of our players.

Kominsky got it so it is a pretty fair bet the entire Rovers playing squad has been infected.

We actually have the exact opposite! and have NEVER won at Luton in the League

[joey_big_nose]

Apparently there's decent hope Kaminski will be available.

Could have most of the squad back I think? 

433 team picks itself really. Suppose the only question will be JRC or Nyambe at right back as Douglas will be back. 

I think Tony will go for JRC like he did against Wycombe.

Also I guess if Ayala and Williams are back there is a decision to be made on who partners Lenihan.

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Remember making the trip down to Luton in the 70’s. 
A frozen pitch and with Rovers losing 2-0 the Rovers players started skating and dropping like flies with the referee abandoning the game in the second half. 

We lost the replayed game 4-0 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Uddersfelt Blue

[Sparks Rover]

3 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Apparently there's decent hope Kaminski will be available.

If he's got covid then how can that be?

[Butty]

2 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

If he's got covid then how can that be?

You have to isolate for 10 days after your symptoms started, that might mean his period of self isolation finishes next Thursday or Friday? That being said, two days before the game is set to take place seems a bit soon for me, can’t see him starting at Luton next week myself.

[philipl]

9 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

We actually have the exact opposite! and have NEVER won at Luton in the League

I was remembering the Cup game and going there when we drew against the odds. Also went there for a horrible defeat when they scored against the run of play and went on to thrash us. Ricky Hill got at least one for them.

Time to register that win then.

We have reversed some horribly long barren runs - notably at Eland Road.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

11 hours ago, philipl said:

Kominsky got it so it is a pretty fair bet the entire Rovers playing squad has been infected.

Good grief. Alarmist much?

[tomphil]

He was said to have no symptoms so isn't the isolation a bit less ?   Doesn't say much for our testing procedures though and god knows how many it might have been passed to on the way over there.

Just shows what we are up against but the world will have to find a way to live with it.

[oldjamfan1]

16 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

never been myself,however my mate insists you have to go through someones back garden to get to the entrance to the away end??!!is this true?

Yeah you pretty much do. Its more like a ginnel if I remember correctly. Fucking horrible place.

[LeftWinger]

17 hours ago, darrenrover said:

Dally Duncan, Roy Hodgson and Mike Newell all loved the place!  not!

(All managed Luton with Rovers' contacts)

What's Hodgson's link to Luton?

 

[Admiral Nelsen]

13 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

Apparently there's decent hope Kaminski will be available.

Could have most of the squad back I think? 

433 team picks itself really. Suppose the only question will be JRC or Nyambe at right back as Douglas will be back. 

I think Tony will go for JRC like he did against Wycombe.

Also I guess if Ayala and Williams are back there is a decision to be made on who partners Lenihan.

 

Given that we'll be looking to take the game to them, and that Nyambe will have had about fifteen flights and two (?) games over the international break, I'd definitely look to this as a JRC game. If Ryan comes back unscathed and covid free, bring him in for PNE.

Other than that, I agree the centre back question is the trickiest one. I think Lenihan has come in for some justified stick for being a bit erratic this season, but after being easily our most important defender for a couple of years now I'd be inclined to be a bit more patient with him and play him alongside Williams to begin with. 

[LeftWinger]

6 hours ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Good grief. Alarmist much?

Not at all. Whilst the 'R' rate has been reported to be below 1 in the UK now, it's a well known fact that the 'R' rate is around 30 at Brockhall.

[Mercer]

18 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

We actually have the exact opposite! and have NEVER won at Luton in the League

I think you are right, in fact up until July's 3-2 defeat, I can't even remember Rovers ever scoring more than one goal there in a league match - worse still, when I've been on that poxy ground, I've never even seen Rovers score a goal in either league or cup!

Surprised they still play there as I remember a number of years ago they were meant to be moving to a new stadium very close to J10 of the M1.

[darrenrover]

3 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

What's Hodgson's link to Luton?

 

My bad, none. I meant to say Ray Harford

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

I think you are right, in fact up until July's 3-2 defeat, I can't even remember Rovers ever scoring more than one goal there in a league match - worse still, when I've been on that poxy ground, I've never even seen Rovers score a goal in either league or cup!

Surprised they still play there as I remember a number of years ago they were meant to be moving to a new stadium very close to J10 of the M1.

They've got permission to start on their new ground but as yet no work done. It's actually going to be slap bang in the town centre next to the railway station so should be a decent new ground maybe like Rotherham rather than on an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere.

Kenilworth Road is horrendous. Easy to see why visiting sides don't like it and don't feel comfortable there.