The Town welcome Sky Bet Championship opposition to Kenilworth Road tonight for the third successive tie in the EFL Cup – now known as the Carabao Cup – with Ipswich Town the visitors.
Last season Nathan Jones’ side beat Aston Villa 3-1 at the same first round stage, before going down narrowly 1-0 to Leeds United in round two.
Tonight Jones and his men go looking to build on Saturday’s record-breaking 8-2 opening day victory over Yeovil Town in Sky Bet League Two by taking on higher level opposition once again.
THE GAFFER SAYS:
On the selection approach to the game: “Nothing’s changed in terms of what we do. We’ve got a run of games coming up where we’ll use the squad and everyone will get game time. Everyone has to stay focussed.
“The problem for me at the moment is one, keeping everyone’s feet on the ground, and two, keeping everyone happy because with the competition we have here, it’s about making sure that everyone is focussed – and that’s my first concern.
“Then we come up against a very good Championship side run by an excellent, experienced manager who have had a good result at the weekend, so we know it’ll be a tough test.
“We’ll be very strong. We are treating this with the utmost respect. We had a wonderful result last year and two fantastic games in the competition against Championship sides, and we are looking forward to testing ourselves again.”
WHO?
Ipswich have been in the second tier of English football for 16 seasons, since suffering relegation from the Premier League in 2002.
In that period they have reached the play-offs three times, but last season’s 16th place was their lowest finish since vastly experienced boss Mick McCarthy, the former Millwall, Republic of Ireland, Sunderland and Wolves manager, took charge in 2012.
They made a good start to the current campaign on Saturday, however, beating Harry Redknapp’s Birmingham City at Portman Road with a goal from new signing from Rangers, Joe Garner.
WHEN AND WHERE?
Kick-off is 7.45pm tonight at Kenilworth Road.
TICKET PRICES?
Adult: £18
Senior (65+): £13
Golden senior (75+): £10
Young adult (19-21): £13
Under 19 (17-18): £10
Youth (10-16): £6
Junior (9 and under): £3
You can purchase tickets from the ticket office in person, over the phone on 01582 416976 or online, which you can access by clicking here. Cash turnstiles will also be in operation for home fans.
Reserved seating applies and all areas of the ground are open for home support other than the Oak Road.
Diamond season ticket holders can get their free cup ticket for this fixture, but it must be booked through the ticket office.
Cash turnstiles will be available tonight.
LAST TIME WE PLAYED?
Town last played the Tractor Boys back in March 2007 at Kenilworth Road and our visitors took all three Championship points back to Suffolk by winning 2-0. Overall, the two clubs have met on 29 occasions, the Hatters just having the edge with 12 wins to 11, six matches ending all-square.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
If you're not able to make it to Kenilworth Road tonight, follow the Hatters' Twitter feed on @LutonTown. iFollow Hatters subscribers can tune in for Simon Pitts' full match audio commentary. As tonight’s game is a Carabao Cup tie, subscribers based abroad won’t be able to watch the game live but they will be able to listen to Simon’s audio commentary.