Edinburgh looks for Diamonds to sparkle

Three successive home draws against teams fighting for survival in the Blue Square Bet Premier have left Edinburgh accepting the play-off dream is now “an outside hope”.

However they are unbeaten in six games - with one loss in 12 matches - ahead of Luton Town’s trip to Nene Park tomorrow night.

Prior to that run, though, Diamonds went 11 games without a win and suffered four successive defeats starting at Kenilworth Road on New Year’s Day.

Matthew Barnes-Homer struck twice and Claude Gnapka sealed the 3-0 verdict in Diamonds’ first action following the death of goalkeeper Dale Roberts.

Edinburgh recalled: “We were fragile at that time.

“So I’m not taking anything into account from the away game.

“I’m sure we will be putting up a better fight and we need to do that to get something out of tonight’s match.

“Luton have been right up there all season and rightly so with their budget.

“If they weren’t challenging at the top of the table then they would be very disappointed.

“But they are not going to win the title so the only way of going up is through the play-offs.

“Nobody will catch Crawley Town now for the championship.

“Luton need to keep the momentum going to make sure they go into the play-offs strongly.

“We’ve still got an outside hope of making the last spot so they need the points as much as we do.

“We need to continue our form while trying to stay in the hunt.

“In the last three home games we have drawn against teams fighting for points at the other end of the league.

“We may look back on that period at the end of the season to see where we came up short.”

Last season’s play-off semi-finalists meet again with both teams aiming to hit back from disappointments.

Diamonds have dropped off the pace in the push for a top-five finish while third-placed Luton missed out on a trip to Wembley when they lost in the FA Carlsberg Trophy semi-final.

Gnapka and Alex Lawless are suspended tonight after being sent off in Saturday’s second leg at home to Mansfield Town.

Edinburgh added: “They have got plenty of players in the squad to bring people in and freshen it up.

“It could go either way for them in terms of being despondent or looking to bounce back.

“To be honest, I’m not particularly bothered about them because we’ve got our own concerns and problems at our club at the present time.”

Even if they can close the gap, Diamonds’ play-off bid seems likely to suffer another blow with a possible five-point deduction.

They have requested a hearing after being charged by the Football Conference over financial irregularities due to the tax bill which has already meant a transfer embargo.

On the pitch, though, Diamonds are set for a double boost with the return of defender Curtis Osano and former Luton forward Ryan Charles following injuries.

Right-back Justin Miller is ruled out with a calf strain but on-loan centre-half Eddie Oshodi has declared himself fit despite a knock on his leg.

Edinburgh concluded: “We can’t shuffle the pack so we’ll go with what we’ve got.

“We are limited with what we can do but we’ll keep plugging away.”