The Hatters go in to this game in a rich vein of form having secured their promotion to Sky Bet League One two weekends ago at Carlisle, then cruising to a 3-1 victory last week against Forest Green Rovers in their final home game of the season.
The Town are in fine form, with four wins and that draw at Brunton Park earning manager Nathan Jones a third Sky Bet League Two manager of the month award of the season in April.
Notts County are currently sitting in fifth place in the league and are coming off the back of good run of form despite a loss last weekend away at Grimsby Town, with their place in the play-offs assured. The Magpies will be looking to get the win that will book them home advantage in the second leg of the play-off semi-final.
The Gaffer Says:
On the occasion: “You’ll only enjoy it if you do well, but it’s a wonderful occasion. We’ll be taking a big amount of fans with us as well. As I said it’s a time to enjoy it, but we want to do well.
“Look we’ve been tested, they’re a good group, they’ve trained really well so nothing changes. I’m glad we haven’t got to go there having to win, so we won’t disrespect that luxury in any way, but we’ll go there and be right at it.”
Looking ahead to next season: “We know who we’d like to bring in, we’ve earmarked targets, but I don’t want to be disrespectful because some teams have still got things to play for.
“We’ll embark on that when everyone’s season is done or the ones that we’re interested in are done. With us obviously we have to speak to our players first, because we have a number of ones that are out of contract.”
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Who?
The trip to Notts County and Meadow Lane is nearly a 200-mile round trip. Notts County have considerably improved since last season, when the Magpies finished 16th in Sky Bet League Two.
Kevin Nolan took over as manager in 2017 and has been a crucial part of their rise. The Magpies started their season very strongly in a similar vein to the Town, losing just one game in their opening ten.
County have shown this year how good their home form can be, winning 14 and losing just two of their 22 games so far, so the Hatters will face a stern test when they take to the pitch at the oldest Football League club in the world.
When and Where?
Kick-off is at 3pm on Saturday 5th May at Meadow Lane.
Ticket Information
The Hatters’ allocation of 4,498 tickets for this fixture sold out a couple of weeks ago.
Notts County have issued important advice to Hatters fans travelling to Meadow Lane...Click here to read
Today, they have also requested on their website that fans do not go on the pitch after the final whistle: "To ensure the playing surface remains in the best possible condition and to allow both sets of players to acknowledge their supporters after full-time, Notts require all fans to stay in the stands after the full-time whistle."
We ask all Hatters supporters to respect this request from the Meadow Lane club.
Played Before?
Notts County visited the Kenny at the beginning of December for a 1-1 draw that Hatters boss Nathan Jones coined as a “fair result” (see highlights below). Town defender Johnny Mullins headed in for his first goal of the season with the half-hour mark approaching, before Shola Ameobi equalised midway through the second half.
Of the 71 games that the sides have played against each other over the years, the Town have won 35 while Notts County have only won 16 of the meetings. However, in the five fixtures since we returned to the EFL, County have had the rub of the green, winning two with Town only winning the once. Our last trip to Meadow Lane in October 2016 finished goalless, with Christian Walton pulling off a wonderful late penalty save to deny Vadaine Oliver a winning goal (see below).
Follow the Action
You can follow the Hatters' Twitter feed on @LutonTown, or stay up to date on the LTFC website in the match centre. iFollow Hatters subscribers can tune in for Simon Pitts' match commentary, whilst international subscribers can watch the game live. You can subscribe to iFollow Hatters by clicking here and supporters who are overseas can buy an individual match pass for the live video stream via the Match Centre.
