Cambridge United hit the road for the first time in three weeks to visit Luton Town on Saturday (3pm).
United's mini-revival was ended last weekend with a 2-0 defeat at home to Kettering and the U's are currently ninth, having taken 27 points from the first nineteen games, while Luton have lost just once in their last nine games and lie fifth in the table with 35 points from their nineteen matches.
The bookies rate the U's as 3/1 outsiders with our online betting partners bet365, while Luton are favourites at 10/11 and the draw is 12/5. Click here for all the match odds.
Team News
Dan Gleeson returned to light training yesterday after missing the last two games with a thigh injury, but he will not feature tomorrow and is doubtful for Tuesday's game at home to Rushden, and next Saturday's FA Cup match at home to York is a more likely target for his return.
Chris Holroyd and Jai Reason both return fit and in good spirits from their England C win in Poland, and wingers Andy Parkinson and Courtney Pitt are both available for selection after shaking off niggling injuries in the last fortnight.
Martin Ling has hinted that both Parkinson and striker Lee Phillips could be included in the starting line-up tomorrow if he makes changes following Saturday's defeat.
"We are possibly slightly more solid with Andy Parkinson in the side and it's a dilemma that I've got to find to the answer to," said the U's boss. "When you lose you tend to look at things you can change and we'll decide after training on Friday, but it's a possible change I may make."
Ling also described Lee Phillips' form in training as "outstanding" and may decide to include the muscular forward against Luton's strong side: "He's been doing well, and so has Danny Crow in recent times, but you're going to be judged by your goals-per-game ratio, so Lee comes into the thinking and so does Parkinson and other players who weren't involved in Saturday's team."
The manager believes that a switch to a 4-3-3 formation failed to have an effect last week against Kettering and will need more work:
"We work on things in training to try to put them right but we also encourage people to express themselves more. It flowed OK for the first fifteen minutes of the second half but once we went 4-3-3 we were less productive.
"It's an attacking move to put three strikers on the pitch but we didn't get the service to the strikers for it to work, so sometimes you have to take it on the chin and say that was the wrong decision and we didn't have any more success after changing to 4-3-3.
"Although the one real chance we had right at the end came from a good ball from Paul Carden, Chrissy pulling the cross in and Danny should have equalised. So the 4-3-3 didn't work how we wanted it to and if we use it again we'll have to work on it. We played better as a 4-4-2."
The Other Side
In the Championship as recently as the 2006/07 season, the Hatters were one of the favourites for promotion at the start of the season and they have hit their stride in recent weeks under new manager Richard Money, with only defeat in their last nine games.
Our last meeting is all-too recent, with ten-man Luton coming from 2-0 down at half-time to win 4-3 at the Abbey in September, and Ling commented, "We know what we're up against, even though they have a different manager and a different team selection.
"We've watched them and we've looked at their strengths and weaknesses and we know we have to defend their set pieces better than we did last time. We were 2-0 up and going smoothly, they were down to ten men and we threw it away.
"Obviously we've talked about it but it's been put to bed; they have a new manager with new ideas and we have to get back to what we're good at. We've had some good performances but every time we seem to get a run going it stops and have to start another one."
Former U's boss Gary Brabin is a recent addition to the backroom staff at Kenilworth Road as Luton's chief scout and Ling commented, "His job is to report on the strengths and weaknesses of the teams they are up against, and he's going to know more about our players than any other team in the league because he's worked with them all apart from Brian Saah.
"He was here on Saturday so obviously he'll have seen some weaknesses but I think he'll have seen some strengths as well, and he knows there are some strengths because they're players who have done well for him at times. So we know they'll have the inside track on us but you still have to perform on the day so Gary Brabin can only do so much and then it's down to the Luton players, as in any game.
"I think Luton will be in the top five and I still think they'll push Oxford because of the size of their club and their budget, but we want to put a chink in their armour by going there and putting in a good performance - and we'll have to do that to get anything from the game.
"Fans can get anxious and Luton are a better set-up than a Conference club. They will see every team in this league as a lesser light, so hopefully we can keep them quiet and their fans will get a bit anxious and that will help our players as well as affect their players.
"I'm sure we'll have good support there ourselves - they won't have been there for a few years and they follow us everywhere up and down the country - so I think we'll have a good following and hopefully we'll put on a good performance."
More information
You can learn more about the Hatters in Doug Shulman's 'The Other Side' article here, directions and ticket details are here, and if you fancy a bet on our match or any other event this weekend visit our official betting partners bet365 - the place where your online betting makes money for the U's.
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