Mackail-Smith: Posh tie will split family

Mackail-Smith, who is married to the daughter of Posh director of football Barry Fry, said: “I’ll be with him for the next three or four days, so we’ll have a chat, he won’t give me anything though, won’t tell me the team or anything like that.

“He’s part of the family now and has been there a long, long time, so we’ll have a laugh and a joke up until the game. Then obviously he’ll want Peterborough to win and I’ll want Luton to win, so it will divide the house for a little bit.

“He’ll hope I’ll do well, but they want to go through, want to progress. There’s a good bit of money for the club whoever goes through and it could be a fantastic tie against a big Premiership team, so I know they’ll be going all out and so will we.”

Mackail-Smith himself is guaranteed a fine reception at the ABAX Stadium too after spending large parts of his career with Posh, netting 99 goals during two spells spanning four years.

He continued: “I think it will be a nice, I played there with Brighton and it wasn’t a bad one, so I’m just looking forward to going back.

“I had an unbelievable time there and have got a lot of time for the club and got a bit of a family connection as well, so I’m looking forward to the day.

“I went there and kind of made myself a name, got three promotions in four years and scored the bulk of the goals in my career so far.

“So it definitely made me into the player I am today and there’s a lot of people I know still at the club.

“I’m looking forward to going back there but doing a professional job for Luton.”

With Hatters already selling 1,900 tickets for the clash too, Mackail-Smith is anticipating a superb atmosphere which will hopefully lift his side after two straight league defeats.

He added: “It should be, they’re on a great run, so hopefully they can bring in a few and I know Luton always take a lot to games.

“So hopefully we can generate a great cup atmosphere and that can filter into the boys and we can put a performance on.”