It’s always the hope that kills you. Always. It’s why, after five successive defeats away from home, 580 Hatters have said an emphatic YES to watch a football match 173-approximate miles from their living rooms and creature comforts.
Because there’s nothing quite being there when your team win, especially away, especially midweek and especially when it’s 11 away defeats in 18 across all competitions this season – 12 if you count Fleetwood on penalties – is there?
We won’t sugar-coat it: the numbers don’t make for bedtime reading. BUT! The hope. It’s why fans of every club up and down the country continue to turn up week in, week out. It’s why in Wigan, on Wednesday, we’ll be wishing for a win.
Let’s get into it.
Wiganese woes
There’s a dialect in Wigan called Wiganese. Honest! Seriously. Middle is ‘miggle’. ‘Klempt’ is hungry. Food? ‘Jackbit’. Get ready to converse with the locals when you order your Wigan kebab.
However, what can be understood in any language is simply looking down at a list of results of a football team and immediately judging how they’re doing.
Unfortunately for our hosts this week, Wigan have been struggling. One win in their last 12 League One games has seen the Latics plummet down the division. So much so they find themselves in the bottom four.
The run of results cost Ryan Lowe his job and Wednesday will see the return of Gary Caldwell in the dugout – a man who likes to record wins over the Hatters when in charge of Exeter, once already this season.
Wigan fans will be hoping for an instant improvement in the Scot’s first game back in charge of a club he guided to the League One title in 2016.
Problem is that confidence might be a problem. They haven’t won in eight League One games (D2, L6) and the Latics have lost four of their last five home league games.
Haven’t we met before?
So, there’s this website. Hatters Heritage. You might have heard of it. Got information and line-ups of every single game we’ve ever played. Scans of every programme and photos of every player, too. What a website and what work from an unsung team of Hatters heroes.
Visiting their website will give you the complete record of all our meetings with the Latics, which goes back to our first game with them, a League Cup tie back in 1978.
August’s 1-0 win made it three in a row for the Town against Wigan – the previous two coming in the Championship promotion season within four days of each other back in January 2023.
A 2-1 FA Cup replay victory thanks to goals from Cauley Woodrow and Elijah Adebayo, in the last minute, earned us our first win at stadium now called the Brick Community Stadium on a FREEZING evening. So cold after that Eli had ice in his veins in front of goal in a Championship triumph just days later.
In fact, it’s four games unbeaten for us at this venue. Who was there when Simon Sluga made that wonderful save in the dying moments in March 2020 to earn us a pivotal point in a goalless draw? It would be our final game for 105 days as Covid hit and the world came to a standstill.
Played for both
During Wigan’s FA Cup tie at Arsenal, the match director cut to an shot of Emmerson Boyce co-commentating at the Emirates Stadium.
The defender lifted the FA Cup as the Latics’ captain when they beat Manchester City in the 2013 final, but he began his career at Kenilworth Road, joining our centre of excellence as a 12-year-old.
A part of our revered youth team that reached the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup in 1997, Emmerson turned pro and made his debut in a 3-0 defeat to Walsall in the EFL Trophy. A game we still have nightmares recalling Hervé Bacqué’s penalty.
After helping us to win promotion from what’s now League Two in 2001/02, ‘Boycey, Boycey, Boycey’ left for Crystal Palace in the summer of 2004 and after two seasons at Selhurst Park he joined Wigan. He enjoyed nine seasons with the Tics – seven of which came in the top-flight.
In charge
Jamie O’Connor will take charge of his first game involving the Hatters on Wednesday night. His Valentine’s Day saw him deliver two red cards in the National League fixture between Tamworth and Aldershot. Both in the first half. He did NOT, however, send off our young striker Oliver Lynch – he scored Tamworth’s goal in the 1-1 draw.
On this day
Talking of Tamworth, the Town saw off the Lambs 3-0 at Kenilworth Road on 18th February 2012. Stuart Fleetwood, Janos Kovacs and an own goal helped us on our way to victory – the last time we were victorious on this day.
Our last game played on this day was four divisions up the pyramid when, despite a goal from Carlton Morris, we went down 2-1 at home to Manchester United in the Premier League.
Team news
It’s likely to be a case of as you were on Wednesday for Jack Wilshere following Saturday’s defeat at Cardiff.
The boss revealed last week that striker Elijah Adebayo is making good progress in his recovery from an ACL but will need a game with the development squad before he’s back in contention for a first-team spot.
Pay on the day
Want to join almost 600 Hatters fans on Wednesday? It’s that half-term treat your children are crying out for!
Tickets are available on the night if you fancy making the trip north. Click here for all the information. Safe travels to you all.
Tune in, turn on.
Simon Pitts will be, as ever, on the mic on LTFC+, with warm drinks on standby and plenty of layers on given the projected top temperature at kick-off will be a teeth-chattering three degrees.
If you’re overseas and want to watch, it’s £10. Just want audio? It’s available anywhere, and it’s just £2.50 for the pleasure. Clicking here gives you those possibilities.
If you are an ex-pat overseas, take advantage of the half-season Global Hatters subscription which is now just £150. All the details are right here.
You can also follow our social media channels for live updates as they happen, plus photos and behind-the-scenes content during the 90 minutes. Stay on lutontown.co.uk post-match for a full report, post-match reaction and the all-important highlights.
And finally...don’t be THAT fan.
A reminder to all supporters, no matter who you are, how old or who you’re supporting, to go about your day with respect. We continue to support the Love Football, Protect the Game campaign.
Luton Town Football Club has committed in its customer charter to providing safe match-day experiences for all supporters regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation, and this applies equally to home and away fixtures.
In the event that any Luton supporters do make discriminatory chants, the Club will work with the police and football authorities to help identify such individuals. Any such fans would then face the strictest club sanctions, including football banning orders that would prevent them attending any matches, in addition to any criminal charges.
Furthermore, we would like to warn against pitch incursions and the use of pyrotechnics or missiles – including any type of object that is thrown onto the pitch during a match – which could lead to potential prosecution.
The Club can also be held responsible for the behaviour of its supporters, which could lead to substantial fines being imposed.
As a diverse and inclusive football club, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our fellow EFL clubs in supporting the FA’s ‘Love Football. Protect the Game’ campaign and call on all fans to enjoy the game in a positive spirit.
If you are offended by any discriminatory abuse of any kind at any of our games, you can report it by clicking HERE, or by contacting your nearest steward immediately.
Alternatively, email [email protected] or report the incident via Kick it Out's free, confidential reporting app on the App Store and Google Play.
We're all Luton.
Come on Luton!
