Having won probably our two easiest fixtures remaining this season, we head into what is undoubtedly the toughest remaining game – away at a 20-game unbeaten, league-leading Luton Town. Although a distant possibility, any lingering hopes of making the play-offs probably rest on getting a positive result here. If we don’t, it’s easy to see the remainder of the season petering out.
Possible Line-Up
Expected Line-Up
The key team selection concern heading into this game is whether Lee Burge is fit enough to return in goal, or if David Stockdale’s emergency loan deal is extended. It would be a difficult situation for Lee Burge to return to, against the in-form league leaders while memories of Stockdale’s ‘heroics’ against Rochdale and Walsall still linger. That said, Burge will have to come back at some point and will be compared unfavourably to Stockdale regardless of the difficult of the opposition.
Another area of focus will be whether Amadou Bakayoko can build on last week’s performance against Walsall. If he can’t replicate the effort and aggression he showed against his former employers last week, question marks have to be placed against his ability to motivate himself. In fairness to Bakayoko we’ve yet to see what he can do over an extended run of starts and he now has that opportunity to show what he can do.
Unless there are any injuries that Mark Robins is tactically keeping out of the news, there are unlikely to be any changes to last week’s starting XI. While there may be justification for bringing David Meyler into midfield to tighten things up in the centre of the park, the Irishman looked short on match fitness even in his cameo against Walsall, pulling up with a tight hamstring but managing to play through it.