In case you missed the news yesterday...
The Hatters have been able to secure the signing of a highly sought-after commodity to Kenilworth Road – a pitch rain protection system.
The cover arrives on-loan with a view to a permanent purchase being driven down from Glasgow Warriors Rugby Club, and will go straight onto the Kenilworth Road turf on Thursday morning in time for Saturday’s Skrill Premier fixture with Hereford United and, more importantly, ahead of Friday’s forecast downpour.
Whilst there are no guarantees that the system will solve all weather problems the club remain confident that it could make the difference ahead of the weekend meeting with the Bulls.
Town managing director Gary Sweet told lutontown.co.uk: “We are experiencing the wettest winter in 250 years in one of the wettest areas of the country, and sadly it has meant a number of our home and away matches have already fallen foul of the wet weather in the past few weeks.
“All of a sudden the demand and price of protection covers has risen considerably which has meant availability has been scarce with lengthy lead times for suitable products and the commercial viability only makes sense if purchased.
“It has only been in the past couple of weeks that the fixture congestion issues have exacerbated to the extent that clubs need to take extraordinary action to ensure that the fixture schedule doesn’t become too much of a problem for the players' and our team’s league progress.
“This uncharacteristic weather has taken many clubs by surprise - this must be the first season for many a year we’ve deployed our snow and frost covers once and the first year we’ve needed to protect against such severe rainfall since we installed a drainage system just over three years ago.
“We were all desperately disappointed that the Tamworth game was postponed but it is hoped that this investment will have the desired effect to ensure the Hereford match this Saturday will go ahead.
“The pitch remains in good condition, which is incredible also taking into account the aftermath of the Barnet match on New Year’s Day."