Chris Cohen says revenge is a “natural emotion” but that Huddersfield fans’ “over-the-top” play-off semi-final celebrations haven’t been mentioned in the Luton dressing room since that heartbreaking night.
Town missed out on Wembley last season after a late Jordan Rhodes goal ended their Premier League dream, but the scenes afterwards saw Terriers supporters flood onto the pitch at the John Smith’s Stadium, with some harassing, assaulting and taunting Hatters players and fans.
Luton boss Nathan Jones called the home fans “an absolute disgrace” after he, his staff and his devastated stars were harangued by the flood of fans, as some headed to thank the travelling support.
The EFL condemned the scenes and, last week, Huddersfield were fined £70,000 by an independent regulatory commission for the May pitch invasion, which saw one elderly Luton fans left with a bloody face after a coin was thrown at him.
The Yorkshire club went on to lose the Championship play-off final to Nottingham Forest and they head to Kenilworth Road tonight second bottom of the division and on their third different manager since the two clubs last met.
Asked if Luton owe Huddersfield for that night, assistant manager Cohen said: “I think it is a natural emotion. Not (that we) owe them one, but I think it’s the fact it is a huge game for us and the supporters.
“The other part is we felt over the course of the two (play-off) games we were fair game to go through to the final and have a shot of getting to Wembley.
“It didn’t happen, Huddersfield won the second leg and deserved their opportunity. I think it is a natural emotion to try and beat them after the disappointment of last year.
“Again, we’re really confident with how we’re playing at the moment, we have players in form, players from last year, new players that have come in and we back ourselves at the Kenny against anyone.
“We just can’t wait for the game and it can’t happen quick enough.”
On the pitch invasion in which television cameras showed James Bree being slapped on the head, while fans’ and mobile footage posted onto social media showed the likes of Jordan Clark being shoved and abused by Huddersfield supporters.
Cohen said: “It probably went a little bit over the top but it hasn’t been the only team where their celebrations maybe went a little bit too far and to be fair to them they just got to Wembley with an opportunity to get into the Premier League.
“Had the game been reversed and we had been at the Kenny, would we have behaved in the same? Who is to say we wouldn’t have because it was just excitement for them and we were demoralised by the defeat and it added a little bit of insult to injury.
“I don’t think it has been mentioned in the staff room or the players since we lost the game and we move onto this season and we look to have the same impact on the league that we did last year.”
Huddersfield finished third in the Championship last season, but this term they’ve been struggling and are yet to win on the road.
Carlos Corberán, the coach that guided them to the play-off final, shocked the club by resigning three weeks before the start of the season.
His replacement, Danny Schofield, was sacked in mid-September after just one win in nine games and five days ago Mark Fotheringham was installed as Huddersfield’s new boss.
Town beat Hull 2-0 on Friday night after they sacked their boss, Shota Arveladze, before the game and talking of facing a second successive struggling Championship club with a new man at the helm, Cohen said: “A little bit like the other night in terms of a new manager comes in, it throws all that form out the window because I know it didn’t happen on Friday (against Hull) but how many times do we see a new manager bounce, someone who comes in with fresh ideas?
“He’s obviously highly regarded as a coach and someone that has had an added few days now, added to last week, to set his team up.
“It has been difficult to prep for them in terms of formations and players but we believe in our style and we believe we can implement it on anyone.
“If we make the game about us and play the way we can, we believe we’re a match and can beat anyone, especially at home.”
Luton will be without the injured Reece Burke and Cauley Woodrow for tonight’s clash, but captain Sonny Bradley is available again.
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