Our kind-of-interesting and half-helpful guide
The games begin to come thick and fast for the Hatters as they come back to Kenilworth Road on tonight when Barrow are the visitors.
Who? Barrow. The Bluebirds, from Barrow-in-Furness. The club were founded in 1901 and are officially known as Barrow AFC. If you didn’t know, that stands for Association Football Club.
When? Tonight. It’s back down to earth with a bump for the Town tonight after Saturday’s super win over Wolves but come along and be a part of the push for promotion. Click here for ticket prices. And you can pay on the night if you leave it to the last minute.
Geography lesson. It’s a long way from Barrow to Luton. 255 miles door-to-door from their Holker Street ground to the Maple Road main entrance here at Kenilworth Road. Barrow lies at the tip of the Furness peninsula, close to the Lake District.
Crickey, that’s a long way. Absolutely but I bet Barrow are used to it. The nearest club to the Bluebirds in the Blue Square Bet Premier are Southport. And that’s just a two hour, 90-mile drive away.
Gooooood morning. It’ll be the wee hours before the Bluebirds hit the hay the next day. The Town of course visited Holker Street on a Tuesday night last season, whilst Barrow were the midweek visitors to Kenilworth Road the season before last in a game that was Gary Brabin’s first match in charge.
We know you. There’s one familiar face in the Barrow ranks and it happens to be the main man, the gaffer, Dave Bayliss. The one-time Town defender made 41 appearances whilst at Kenilworth Road. He took control of the Bluebirds together with Darren Sheridan in November 2007 and the duo – then as player/managers – guided the club to promotion to the Blue Square Bet Premier in 2007/08. Sheridan left his post in February 2012, leaving the Holker Street hotseat solely for Bayliss.
Down the years. Although this is the first meeting this season, the Town are no strangers to the Bluebirds in recent years. In 2009, the Hatters met Barrow for the first time in 40 years and, overall, the Hatters’ record reads nine wins, two draws and three defeats. At Kenilworth Road the Town have won six of the seven meetings, triumphing 5-1 last season. Barrow’s 1-0 win at Holker Street last season was their first over the Town since February 1969.
How they doing? Erm, in a nutshell, not great. The Bluebirds may well arrive at Kenilworth Road bottom of the table. Their New Year’s Day win at Gateshead was their first league victory since 9th October. They couldn’t build on that however, on Saturday when they lost 2-0 at Kidderminster.
Away the lads. If anything, the Bluebirds prefer playing away from home, as their record of four wins shows. It’s been at home that’s been the problem – with just one win at Holker Street in 12 games.
Kissing the badge. Watch out for any Barrow striker giving their shirt a smacker should he score. Like the Hatters’, their crest is based on the town coat of arms. It features a submarine – a nod to Barrow’s shipbuilding heritage, a red rose and a football. Also, like Luton’s, there’s a bee – only this one seems to be struck by an arrow. This is said to represent Bee-Arrow – Barrow. Get it??
Live and online: Remember we'll have live audio commentary during the game and live text updates via Storify, plus, post-match they'll be reports, reaction, interviews and photographs. How good are we?