Luton Town

Luton lodge appeal over Beresford
Luton have appealed against the red card shown to goalkeeper Marlon Beresford in their 3-0 defeat at Preston on Saturday. With the score at 0-0, Beresford saw red for bringing down David Nugent, which was adjudged to be the denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Hatters boss Mike Newell said after the game: \"It's a stupid rule. \"If a keeper cannot be allowed to go down at a striker's feet and make an honest challenge, something is wrong.\"

Luton v QPR
Luton will be without goalkeeper Marlon Beresford who is banned for one match. Top-scorer Rowan Vine could also miss the game after picking up a knock at Preston but midfielder Lewis Emanuel is back in contention after a knee injury. QPR are likely to call on Marc Bircham to deputise for the banned Steve Lomas in midfield, although Martin Rowlands may figure after shaking off a knock. Young forward Ray Jones could also return following a hip problem, but defender Pat Kanyuka will not feature.

Luton 2-3 QPR
Dexter Blackstock scored the winner for QPR who fought back from 2-1 down to earn victory at Luton. Jimmy Smith gave QPR the lead after he poked home Lee Cook's free-kick. Luton equalised when Adam Boyd converted Steve Robinson's cut-back before they took the lead when Ahmet Brkovic headed in David Bell's cross. Markus Heikkinen's own goal from Lee Cook's corner made it 2-2 before Blackstock turned in Marc Nygaard's flick on from Smith's corner. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luton: Brill, Foley, Barnett, Heikkinen, Emanuel, Edwards, Robinson (Morgan 85), Bell, Brkovic, Vine (Feeney 85), Boyd. Subs Not Used: Barrett, Perrett, Holmes. Goals: Brkovic 45, Boyd 45. QPR: Royce, Mancienne, Rehman, Stewart, Bignot, Ainsworth, Bailey, Smith, Cook, Blackstock (Gallen 80), Nygaard, Gallen (Ward 89). Subs Not Used: Paul Jones, Milanese, Baidoo. Booked: Blackstock. Goals: Smith 33, Heikkinen 51 og, Blackstock 54. Att: 9,007 Ref: A D'Urso (Essex).

Newell rapped but keeps Luton job
Mike Newell has kept his job as Luton manager - but has been severely reprimanded by the club. Newell was in trouble after a verbal attack on female official Amy Rayner and chairman Bill Tomlins following Saturday's 3-2 home defeat against QPR. He was asked to explain his attack on Tomlins and a statement from Luton said: \"Any repetition of such conduct will not be tolerated.\" Newell apologised to the board and assured them there will be no repeat. The Football Association has said it will look into Newell's comments, which he made in his post-match press conference at Kenilworth Road. Newell contacted Rayner personally to apologise for his outburst, but still faced a meeting with the Luton board. 606 DEBATE: Are Luton right to keep Newell on? Luton's statement added: \"The club disassociate ourselves totally with the comments Mike Newell made regarding the assistant referee, which are completely unacceptable. \"The club have accepted the manager's explanation and his subsequent public apology.\" The former Everton and Blackburn striker was unhappy that Rayner and referee Andy D'Urso failed to award his side a spot-kick when QPR defender Marcus Bignot tangled with Carlos Edwards in the penalty box. \"It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems,\" said Newell. \"This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots. \"She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.\" Newell was also highly critical of chairman Tomlins' running of the club. He said he thought the club had gone backwards since Tomlins took over two years ago, with a proposed move to a new stadium showing no signs of progress, plus he claimed the chairman would soon be leaving Kenilworth Road. Newell said: \"I have not spoken to the chairman for months. I cannot understand what he is doing here. \"The club has gone backwards off the pitch during the last two years. He has not made any decisions and he has contributed nothing. \"Everything he has got involved in, he has messed up. I am not considering my own future because, apparently, he is going. \"I will not suffer fools - I never have and I never will.\"

Newell hopes Rayner row is over
Luton boss Mike Newell hopes he can put behind him the row caused by his verbal attack on female official Amy Rayner. He said after Saturday's loss against QPR that the appointment of women referees and assistants was \"tokenism for the politically-correct idiots\". Newell said: \"My apology to Amy Rayner, and to anyone I've offended, is unreserved. I was out of order and she has accepted it. \"As far as I'm concerned, the matter is closed,\" the Luton manager added. Newell has kept his job but has been severely reprimanded by the club. He was asked to explain his attack on Tomlins and a statement from Luton said: \"Any repetition of such conduct will not be tolerated.\" Newell apologised to the board and assured them there will be no repeat. The Football Association has said it will look into Newell's comments, which he made in his post-match press conference at Kenilworth Road. Newell contacted Rayner personally to apologise for his outburst, but still faced a meeting with the Luton board. Luton's statement added: \"The club disassociate ourselves totally with the comments Mike Newell made regarding the assistant referee, which are completely unacceptable. \"The club have accepted the manager's explanation and his subsequent public apology.\" The former Everton and Blackburn striker was unhappy that Rayner and referee Andy D'Urso failed to award his side a spot-kick when QPR defender Marcus Bignot tangled with Carlos Edwards in the penalty box. \"It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems,\" said Newell. \"This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots. \"She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.\" Newell was also highly critical of chairman Bill Tomlins' running of the club. He said he thought the club had gone backwards since Tomlins took over two years ago, with a proposed move to a new stadium showing no signs of progress, plus he claimed the chairman would soon be leaving Kenilworth Road. Newell said: \"I have not spoken to the chairman for months. I cannot understand what he is doing here. \"The club has gone backwards off the pitch during the last two years. He has not made any decisions and he has contributed nothing. \"Everything he has got involved in, he has messed up. I am not considering my own future because, apparently, he is going. \"I will not suffer fools - I never have and I never will.\"

Davis back training after stroke
Luton defender Sol Davis has come through a full training session a little more than a month after suffering a stroke. The 27-year-old was taken ill on the team coach the day before the 5-0 loss at Ipswich on 29 October. It was thought that he would take up to six months to make a full recovery. Assistant boss Brian Stein said: \"Sol did the whole session. He thinks he can be back on the pitch in three weeks, but we have to be careful with him.\" Stein added: \"Sol wanted to train last week. We have to keep him in check, because he wants to do too much. \"He is wholehearted in everything he does, and his attitude during this spell speaks volumes about him. We are very pleased with him.\"

Sunderland v Luton
Sunderland will be without striker Chris Brown because of an ankle strain, keeper Ben Alnwick is still out with a shoulder injury. Defenders Kenny Cunningham (knee) and Stephen Wright (ankle) remain sidelined but centre-back Stanislav Varga is back after suspension. Luton have Dean Morgan back in their squad after a hip injury. They are still without forward Sam Parkin (ankle) and utility-man Paul Underwood, who had had an infection.

Gills snap up Luton keeper Brill
Gillingham have signed Luton Town goalkeeper Dean Brill on an emergency seven-day loan deal, after losing number one Kelvin Jack to injury. In an emergency, the Football League can grant clubs special dispensation to sign goalkeepers on a week-by-week basis, outside the window for loans. Brill, 21, will start in goal for the Gills at Yeovil on Saturday. He has made 15 first-team appearances for the Hatters since making his debut as a 17-year-old in September 2003.

Luton's Davis back after stroke
Luton defender Sol Davis made a return to action for the first time since suffering a stroke. Davis played for 67 minutes and marked his return by scoring an own goal in the 1-1 draw with Northampton reserves. The 27-year-old suffered a stroke on the Luton team bus en route to the game at Ipswich on 28 October. Hatters boss Mike Newell told Luton's website: \"At the moment his specialist is telling him to carry on and do whatever he wants to do.\" It was initially thought Davis could take up to six months to fully recover. He came through his first full training session earlier this week, making him available for Wednesday's reserve outing.

Luton 0-0 Southend
Southend striker Freddy Eastwood hit the woodwork twice in the second half as Steve Tilson's side missed a chance to climb off the bottom of the table. Just after the interval Eastwood cut in from the left before unleashing a shot that crashed against the Luton bar. In stoppage time Eastwood looked certain to score after he rounded keeper Dean Kiely, but he struck the base of the post with his shot. Southend keeper Darryl Flahavan made a series of saves to keep Luton at bay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luton manager Mike Newell: \"It's frustrating when you don't win your home games. \"It is difficult to play the bottom side - they're capable of winning games and it could have turned out that way. \"I don't think confidence was lacking, but that was as poor as we've played this season. We gave the ball away and it was hard to get near their goal.\" Southend manager Steve Tilson: \"It's a good point. We played some good stuff - on balance it's a fair result. \"At the death I thought we'd won. \"When you're at the bottom you don't get that luck, but two unbeaten games gives us a platorm to build on with so many games coming up.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luton: Kiely, Foley, Edwards, Robinson, Heikkinen, Morgan (Feeney 65), Emanuel, Brkovic, Barnett, Bell, Vine (Coyne 81). Subs Not Used: Beresford, Langley, Boyd. Southend: Flahavan, Hunt, Prior, Sodje, Gower, Maher, Campbell-Ryce (Hooper 80), Hammell, McCormack, Eastwood, Bradbury (Harrold 80). Subs Not Used: Welch, Francis, Clarke. Att: 7,468. Ref: N Miller (Co Durham).

Newell stands by corruption claim
Luton manager Mike Newell has responded to Lord Stevens' inquiry by reiterating his claim, made back in January, that there is corruption in football. He said: \"The game is not clean and Lord Stevens said that yesterday when he was asked the question directly. \"He said he felt there was corruption - that's the only question where anybody needs to take notice of the answer.\" Newell also believes there should be an investigation into transfer dealings going back 10 years, rather than two. Following a nine-month investigation, Lord Stevens revealed on Wednesday that 17 transfers - out of 362 - still require further investigation. However he did not reveal the names of the clubs or the players involved. Newell believes the reason is that clubs are being run more professionally now and have clean things up. He added: \"Go back five or 10 years and involve everybody - because people with nothing to hide will fear nothing. \"They keep rolling these agents out who say the game's clean and only five percent of activity is being questioned - but they've only gone into the last two years in the Premier League. \"In those two years clubs are more professional - so it's not as widespread. \"But a lot of these agents have made their millions in the last five to 10 years. \"There will be a lot of people breathing a sigh of relief on their yachts and in their villas - and I'm not just talking about agents now.\"

Luton 3-1 Coventry
Ahmet Brkovic scored at either end before further goals from Rowan Vine and Dean Morgan settled a frantic clash in Luton's favour. Brkovic cancelled out his own first-half stoppage-time strike when he twisted and turned before beating inspired the Hatters keeper Dean Kiely. Carlos Edwards wriggled clear down the right and crossed for Vine to slide in past Luke Steele for Luton's second. And Morgan sealed the win with a sweetly-struck curling free-kick.

Colchester 4-1 Luton
Colchester kept their promotion bid on track with two goals in each half to make it 10 home wins in a row. Luton's Dean Morgan and Carlos Edwards went close before Kevin McLeod headed the home side in front, with Chris Iwelumo making it two before the break. Kevin Watson, who set up the first, was the supplier again as Richard Garcia made it 3-0, with Iwelumo heading in Jamie Cureton's cross for 4-0. Rowan Vine's penalty after a Garcia foul was little consolation for Luton. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colchester manager Geraint Williams: \"It was a great result for us but we were a bit disappointed with the way we performed. \"We relied on some creative goalkeeping from Dean Gerken to keep us in the game in the first half. \"But we've got a fantastic home record and the players deserve full credit for that,\" he added. Luton manager Mike Newell: \"We had enough chances to win, and goals win you games. When Colchester got their chances they converted them. \"It doesn't look good when you concede four but anyone that was here will tell you it was a different story.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colchester: Gerken, Halford, Baldwin, Brown, Barker, Garcia, Watson, Izzet, McLeod (Jackson 71), Cureton (Ephraim 77), Iwelumo (Guy 90). Subs Not Used: Davison, Richards. Goals: McLeod 23, Iwelumo 41, Garcia 59, Iwelumo 65. Luton: Kiely, Foley, Heikkinen, Coyne, Emanuel (Davis 67), Edwards (Feeney 66), Bell, Barnett, Brkovic, Vine, Morgan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subs Not Used: Beresford, Langley, Holmes. Booked: Heikkinen, Vine. Goals: Vine 85 pen. Att: 5,427. Ref: P Crossley (Kent).

Birmingham 2-2 Luton
Substitute Neill Danns' stoppage-time goal salvaged a point for Championship leaders Birmingham against Luton. Birmingham took an undeserved lead just past the half-hour when in-form Gary McSheffrey fired in from close range. But on 44 minutes Rowan Vine, who had hit the post before McSheffrey's goal, equalised for Luton with a curling effort past goalkeeper Maik Taylor. With 13 minutes left Warren Feeney's low shot beat Taylor to put Luton ahead, but Danns had the last word. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Birmingham manager Steve Bruce: \"We've got away with it. We were below our best, but at least we got something out of a game.\" \"You have to give credit to Luton because they caused us a few problems. \"I don't want to look for excuses but it was a difficult pitch - that's going to be dug up in the next 10 days. A bit of Christmas fatigue also showed.\" Luton manager Mike Newell: \"To lose a goal at the death like that is pretty hard to swallow - it's sickening. \"We believe we have a good side and good players and we always go out and try and play good football. \"I don't think our character is in doubt. If we can get our players fit we can compete with anyone.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Kelly, Jaidi, Upson, Sadler, Larsson (Kilkenny 84), Nafti (Danns 76), Muamba, McSheffrey, Bendtner, Jerome (Campbell 76). Subs Not Used: Doyle, Martin Taylor. Booked: Jaidi, Nafti. Goals: McSheffrey 31, Danns 90. Luton: Kiely, Foley, Heikkinen (Holmes 56), Coyne, Emanuel (Davis 52), Barnett, Edwards, Langley, Morgan, Vine, Feeney. Subs Not Used: Beresford, Boyd, O'Leary. Booked: Holmes, Vine. Goals: Vine 44, Feeney 77. Att: 24,642. Ref: P Joslin (Nottinghamshire).

Luton v Cardiff
Luton will be without defender Markus Heikkinen for the match with Cardiff, although his leg injury is not thought to be as bad as first feared. Lewis Emanuel is doubtful after picking up a knock, meaning Sol Davis could start a game little more than two months after he suffered a stroke. Midfielder Kevin Cooper and Willo Flood are vying to replace Paul Parry, should he not recover from a leg strain. The Bluebirds are definitely without striker Luigi Glombard (hamstring).

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