Bloomfield’s Bradley reunion adds spice to Lincoln trip as another ex-Hatter also awaits Luton

Two Luton promotion legends are set to line-up against their old club on Saturday for Lincoln City and, while Hatters fans will know all about their strengths, Town boss Matt Bloomfield does too as he made one of them his final signing as Wycombe Wanderers manager before moving to Kenilworth Road in January.

With Town looking to bounce back from their 3-2 defeat to ten-man Plymouth, Saturday’s reunion with Sonny Bradley and James Collins promises an emotional subplot to an already testing trip to Sincil Bank.

Both players helped the Hatters to win promotion out of the League One, the last time the club was in the third tier in 2018/19. They were together at Derby County last term, and both featured against Luton in December’s Championship clash at Pride Park that Town won 2-1.

For Bradley, who has scored in his last three games, it could be the first time the former Hatters captain takes on his old team since leaving the club after they won promotion to the Premier League two years ago.

At that time the defender moved to Derby, then in League One, and helped them to win promotion to the Championship. But after just nine appearances for the Rams in the first half of last term, Bloomfield tempted Bradley to Adams Park in January, only to then join Luton a week later himself.

Bradley has since settled into Lincoln’s back line after his move this summer and he is expected to feature against his old club. Bloomfield knows the 34-year-old’s qualities first-hand and expects him to be a key part of a well-drilled Imps defence.

“Sonny was my last signing, I think, for my previous job,” Bloomfield recalled. “Yeah, a great guy. I only had him for a couple of weeks, but yeah, straight up guy, just proper defender, proper human, proper professional.”

Alongside Bradley will be Collins, who remains Luton’s most prolific striker of the last 20 years after scoring 72 goals in 183 appearances during Luton’s rise from League Two to the Championship, eventually leaving for Cardiff in the summer of 2021.

With four goals already to his name at Lincoln this season, he’s the division’s joint second highest marksman and has bagged three in his last three.

“James Collins, I played against when he was here [Luton] and obviously at other clubs. I managed against him when he was at Derby,” said Bloomfield. “And again, [he’s] someone who knows the game inside out.”

With the pair in the Lincoln side, led by head coach Michael Skubala, the Imps have lost just once in 11 games in all competitions and Bloomfield is wary of the threat posed by two players steeped in Kenilworth Road history, as he attempts to engineer a bounce back from Saturday’s 3-2 blunder-filled defeat to ten-man Plymouth.

“They were great players for the club and brilliant in both boxes, obviously,” the Town boss said.

“They’ve [Lincoln] had a cracking start, just one defea t in their 11 games in all competitions and they’re a tough nut to crack. A very solid team. Scoob’s [Skubala] got them very well organised. They all know their jobs, got some real solid citizens, ads who have been around the scene for a number of years, so it’s going to be a real tough afternoon for us.”