The Hatters' Head Groundsman Richard Bird, Roger Osbourne and their team have begun their most important job of the year: getting the Kenilworth Road pitch in order ahead of next season.

As our pictures, below, show, the grass was quickly stripped from the turf as dusk desended on Thursday evening before work begun early on Friday morning to break up the soil.

As Richard left the ground at 10pm on Thursday the top 15mm of the surface had been removed together with over 150 tonnes of soil and turf.

The re-sedding process will take place in June and once the turf starts sprouting we'll bring you the photos. So keep it lutontown.co.uk over the summer months!