Hatters boss Still hints he will look to youth for Staines win

With Luton in great form in the league, having gone 13 games unbeaten, Still is likely to mix it up at the weekend.

Young defender Alex Lacey is now a doubt for that game after a late challenge by maligned Southport striker Richard Brodie forced him off in the first half.

Still said: “It’s nothing terrible. We’ve got the FA Trophy on Saturday, I’m not sure if he’ll be ready for that, which is a blow because I would have played him in that.

“I want to play a good side. We’ve got some really good young players, (Matt) Robinson, (Jim) Stevenson, Lacey, (Andy) Parry, (Zane) Banton, (Mark) Cullen.

“We have some good young players and I want these players to play. We’ll have to see with Lacey, but it’s nothing terrible.”

Experienced centre-half Steve McNulty is confident Lacey won’t take long to recover from the injury and is pleased with the way he’s developing alongside him.

“Just a kick,” he said. “He’s a young lad, he’s done really well this season, he’s played in a lot of games.

“He got a knock on Saturday himself as well so I think he was touch and go whether to play.

“It wasn’t the same injury, but he needs to do a lot of growing up and he is doing.

“He’s holding his own in this league and he’s a young boy and he’s got a lot to learn, but I think he can go on and play higher if he listens to what the gaffer’s got to say.

“The gaffer’s always on at him every day and he’s only going to get better.”

McNulty played against the Sandgrounders with eight stitches in an eye wound, but is ready to play if necessary.

He said: “I’m carrying a few knocks, but if I need to play I’m going to play.

“I like to play every game and I don’t like missing games, so that’s down to the gaffer, if selected then I’ll play.”

Industrious midfielder Luke Guttridge picked up a fifth booking of the season and will miss the weekend’s game, so experienced midfielder Jonathan Smith is also prepared to feature.

He said: “That’s up to the gaffer, whoever plays is good enough to do a job for the team, if he picks me I’ll give it 100 per cent as normal.”

And on the tie, he added: “That will be tough, going to these teams in the lower leagues they’re going to raise (their game) and be fighting, because we’ve been there before.

“Looking at these pictures in here Luton v Norwich, you play these lower teams and you’re going to raise it and fight for everything and we’ve got to make sure that we match that because we’ve got the quality like we’ve shown, we’ve just got to match them for the effort.

“Our main aim is to get out of this league, to get promotion, that’s all we want to do. But winning’s a habit, we want to go there and win and carry on the run.

“We don’t want to go there and lose. We were disappointed to go out of the FA Cup, it will be important for us to keep the winning habit going on Saturday.”