Boss Rob Edwards is hoping the dawn of a New Year can be the catalyst for an upturn in fortunes as the Town aim to climb the Championship table.
Despite losing just once in their last 10 home fixtures, it’s away from Kenilworth Road where the Hatters have struggled, losing nine on the spin on the road.
But with the Town beginning 2025 on home soil against Norwich on New Year’s Day, Edwards believes his side are close to finding the magic formula on their travels.
“We are working really hard to try and do this and to try and get results, and try to find that consistency we had in this league a couple of years ago, and if we use 2025 as that reset and go again,” the manager told lutontown.co.uk on New Year’s Eve.
“We are at home tomorrow, and it’s not been the home form, it’s not been the home results. We need that to continue against a difficult team in Norwich, we know that, but we are certainly capable.
“Hopefully then we are in a position where we are coming off a win going to QPR, hopefully, and then hopefully we can turn that away form around.
“We know that it’s not been good enough. Nine defeats in a row hurts, of course it does, but I think we are getting closer to finding a result. The last two games have been the finest of fine margins, but what need to do now is come out on the right side of those fine margins.
“Two years ago we would have won or have got something from those two games, no doubt about it. This year we haven’t been, and we’ve got to try and find the solutions to that.”
A ninth straight loss on the road came on Sunday at Swansea but among the positives were the returns from injury of Amari’i Bell and Reuell Walters, who have boosted the Town’s numbers in defence.
“That was a real positive and we are getting bodies back, which certainly helps. Amari’I came through the full game, which was good and I thought he played well,” said Edwards.
“Reu got 20-plus minutes which was really good as well, so two positives and going into tomorrow’s game, they are both available.”
The boss also gave an update on the condition of Mads Andersen, Jacob Brown and Alfie Doughty.
“Mads is a bit of a complicated one. We don’t feel there is an injury there, but he wasn’t comfortable and was still feeling a bit of pain there in his calf, so we’ll see how he is.
“With Browny, the welling is coming down around his knee and around the leg area, so we are pushing as hard as possible with that one. He’s working hard as well, but tomorrow may come too soon for him, but we’ll give him as much time as we can.
“Alfie is getting close. He is out there on the grass and training and working hard, so we’ll hope to see him soon. The other boys, Burkey and Shandon, are more longer term so they will be a way off yet.
“Hopefully we can get people back and they stay back. The home form in terms of results has been good, and we’ve got to make sure that continues to be the case going forward, and we’ve got to try and build that consistency away from home as well. We are working harder than ever to try and do that. Harder than when we got promoted. Harder than when we were going up against the best teams in the world last year, and we are searching for those answers and hopefully they’ll come.”
It means the Town are likely to pick from the same squad against the Canaries with Lamine Fanne unavailable until the trip to QPR while he awaits international clearance from FIFA.
“We’ll have Lamine available for QPR because he gets registered from tomorrow, so he’s not available for Norwich, but that will be good, and we are working hard to try and bring in a few recruits to help us. I think we need that freshness around and a few new bodies to lift everybody.”
