Rob Edwards won’t give up on automatic promotion but knows his Luton side must beat Reading tonight to keep up the pressure on second-placed Sheffield United.
Town fell eight points behind the Blades with four games remaining after the Bramall Lane side beat Bristol City 1-0 last night.
But the Hatters have been pushing United all the way and are currently on a run of ten second-tier games unbeaten for the first time in 41 years.
A victory in Berkshire this evening will at least guarantee Town a Championship play-off spot for the second year running, but Edwards doesn’t want to give up on promotion straight into the Premier League.
“We want to win every game, so at the moment, until someone tells me that we can’t get automatic promotion then we’re going to try and win every game and get every point that’s available to us,” said the Hatters boss.
“While something’s possible then we’ve got to try and go for it, we’re well aware of where we’re at and the brilliant position that Sheffield United are in, but we’ve still got to go and get those points and get those wins.
“But they’ll be confident they can do that as they’ve done that all season long, but we’ve got four games to go and we want to try and win every one of them.”
Reading were docked six points deducted earlier this month for breaching the terms of an agreed business plan for a previous rule break. After that they dropped into the Championship’s bottom three and last week sacked manager Paul Ince.
However, the Royals have just held promoted Burnley to a stalemate and they kept Luton to the same score at Kenilworth Road back in November, two games before former boss Nathan Jones left to join Southampton. While Edwards’ Luton are on a remarkable run of form, he is not expecting an easy ride.
“They had a fantastic performance and result on the weekend against Burnley. The crowd and everyone seemed really with it and it’s like everyone’s pulled together in the same direction,” said the Town chief.
“They’ll get a lot of belief from that result and performance so I’m sure it’s going to be very similar again. They’ll want to build on that.
“It will be a really tough game. They’ve got some pace in the team, especially in the wider areas, and a mixture of experience and some youthfulness as well.
“There’s some real threats there. They can mix it up and go quite direct, if it’s Lucas Joao or Andy Carroll. The young lad that started on Saturday played well, so there are some really good options they’ve got at the top end of the pitch.
“They got some pace in the wide areas and can hurt you on the counter-attack as well. It’s another really tough game and another team that’s fighting for their lives.
“Like I said, the crowd will be on their side as well, so we’ve got to be really, really at it. We have been consistent for a while, but it’s got to stay like that.”
