Cup tied players back in the mix

MIDFIELDER Alex Lawless could earn a swift recall to the Hatters side to face former club Forest Green Rovers this weekend, writes Mark Wood.

The 27-year-old missed out on Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Charlton in the second round of the FA Cup as he had previously played in the competition for former club York City.

Both he, ex-Barrow striker Jason Walker and former Newport County winger Charlie Henry all missed out as they were cup tied, but they are set to come back into the mix.

Manager Richard Money said: “Of course when you have people like Lawless and Jason Walker available they do come into contention.

“We haven’t brought Alex Lawless and Jason Walker to sit on the bench. We’ve brought them here to be very much part of our first team.

“They are quality competition and it’s amazing what one or two new signings do to the players you already have and you saw that on Saturday.”

Lawless was a crowd favourite at The New Lawn, playing over 100 games in three seasons there.

Money said: “You would think (he was champing at the bit) and he scored there for York before he came to us.”

However, Forest Green are likely to be looking for revenge after their 6-1 thrashing at Kenilworth Road in October.

Town’s preparations for the game have been hampered, with Money adding: “Whether the weather improves or not we will prepare as normal.

“Footballers are pretty resilient and know these things can happen at this time of year.

“You have to change the training regimes because the ground is difficult.

“We just do what the weather allows us to do.

“We’ve had a really good fitness session in the morning and will go to the gym in the afternoon and do another one.

“We did the same last year and worked on our fitness. We reaped the benefits last year and hopefully this year it will be the same.”