Luton chief appreciates the 'huge effort' Town supporters will make when heading to Boro

Luton boss Rob Edwards has given ‘massive thanks’ to all the Hatters supporters who are making the lengthy trip to Middlesbrough this afternoon to watch their side return to Championship action.

The Hatters are playing a competitive match for the first time since November 12 at the Riverside Stadium following the second tier postponed for just under a month due to the World Cup taking place out in Qatar.

With England playing their quarter-final against France later this evening, it had been hoped that the match would start earlier to allow fans a better chance of making it back in time for kick-off, but that plan was scrapped in the week as both teams didn’t request the change.

That, plus Christmas being just around the corner and a cost of living crisis engulfing the nation as well, it makes Edwards, who is taking his first game as Hatters manager, even more appreciative of the travelling support, as he said: “It’s a huge effort for our fans and I recognise that, a massive thanks goes out to all of them.

"I’ve heard we’re taking a really good support up there and it’s a long way to go.

"I know there is a big cost and there’s a pretty big game going on after!

“It’s a bit of a unique day again so we really appreciate everyone making that big, big effort to come and support us.

"We did hear a rumour that (time change) might be happening but it’s not and we have to deal with it

“The kick-off time is the kick-off time, we can’t do anything about that now.”

Edwards will lead a Luton side who could find themselves climb into the play-offs with a victory, as they resume their campaign sitting in 11th place, but just a point away from the top six.

The new boss knows the congested nature of the table should lead to an exciting second half of the season, as he continued: “The league is really tight, it’s even more tight than ever before.

"The Championship is always a really exciting league, but probably this year because it's been so tightly packed, those 21 games really, really quickly, I think it’s tightened the league up.

"Anyone can beat anyone, and it’s really, really exciting, as it always is in the Championship.

"The group of players, the staff and everyone, have put us in a really good position going into this second half of the season, we want to continue to be in the mix come the end.

“I think it will be really interesting (the restart), I think there will be some clubs that respond really well and others that maybe find it a little bit more difficult.

"So I’m hoping that we respond in a really good way with performances and hopefully results as well.”

Starting back with victory won’t be easy though, Luton coming up against an opponent who have improved drastically since former Manchester United and England midfielder Michael Carrick took over from Chris Wilder, winning three and drawing one of his five games in charge.

Edwards, who has beaten Boro when at Watford earlier this season, said: “We’ve gone up against them once this season, but they have got a good team since Michael Carrick has taken over.

"They have done well, he has changed some things about how they play and they’ve got a very clear style, as they had before, but you can see that they’re very well coached already in such a short space of time.

"They’ve got good players, it will be a difficult game, every game in the Championship brings its own challenges.

"It’s a long journey up to Middlesbrough, they’re a big club, it’s a really difficult first game back, but a brilliant game for us as well.

"One we’ve got to look forward to and hope our lads respond and enjoy these challenges, so I’m certainly looking forward to it.”

Luton themselves had only won one out of six matches ahead of the break, as although Edwards main work with his new squad came on the training pitch, he did get one opportunity to watch them in action first hand, a 1-1 friendly draw against Reading last weekend.

He felt it was an important exercise ahead of their trip to Teesside, adding: “It was just really key principles that we’ve tried to bang on about and hit home over these first couple of weeks.

"If we were in a different position in the league, in a place where we were struggling and struggling for performances as well, we’d have to look at maybe changing a lot more things, but we’re not in that position.

"It’s quite rare that you get the chance as a manager coming in to work with a group of players that are pretty confident, in buoyant mood and in a good position in the league.

"That Reading game was about just hitting home the things that we’ve been working on, those key principles, but I’ll reiterate it again, not wholesale fundamental changes, because it’s not needed.”