Midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is hoping for news today that Hatters fans can return to Kenilworth Road, so he and his Luton team-mates can ‘put on a show’ for them after a ‘really tough’ absence.
Town supporters have not set foot in the old ground since February, before the Coronavirus pandemic struck. The country is in a second lockdown to try to halt to spike in Covid-19 cases, but that is due to end on Wednesday December 2, at which point a new tiered system will be introduced to different regions.
Luton was placed into tier 2 just before this current lockdown, having already seen a spike that ushered in a wave of restrictions across the borough in July.
But the government this week announced plans for fans to finally return to stadia, after a scrapped trial run in September, which Luton had to pull out of at the 11th hour because of the EFL’s last-minute decision.
The number of fans that will be allowed back to Kenilworth depends on what tier the government will place Luton in, with the government to make an announcement today.
But with tier 2 status imposed only a few weeks ago, the expectation is a return to that, which would mean 2,000 supporters will be allowed back to games, potentially as early as Wednesday’s visit of Norwich City.
Tier 1 would allow 4,000 fans, while tier 3 would ensure games continue behind closed doors.
Asked about the prospect of finally playing in front of Hatters, having signed on a season-long loan from Leicester City in the summer, Dewsbury-Hall said: “That would be fantastic, every player says how much it isn’t really the same without the fans.
“The fans sometimes are the 12th man and it’s really tough not having them here at the moment so if there is any possibility they can come back, that will just be fantastic for us because we can’t wait to try and put on a show in front of the fans because it has been too long really. Hopefully that will be soon.”
The 22-year-old was, for the second successive match, the standout performer, as Luton dominated Birmingham City only to come away with a point on Tuesday night.
But despite the 1-1 scoreline, preserved by some outstanding saves from Blues stopper Neil Etheridge, Dewsbury-Hall believes fans will be in for a treat if and when they do return to matches.
“I hope the fans are optimistic and happy about the way we played because we are competing at a really good level in the Championship,” he said, adding: “We’re not here to be scrapping at the bottom of the table, we’ve got really big aspirations for this season and I think we are showing that.
“We’re not losing games, we should be winning a lot of games. I think more clinical edge in the final third and we will be winning games. That is going to come, the more we play together, it is going to click and the fluidity is going to keep coming. We’re really optimistic heading into the next few weeks.
“We’ve got a really good group of lads and we’re all really hungry to do as well as we can in this league. We believe that the sky is the limit for us, a lot of people won’t be putting us up there, but we are the first people to say we’re going to be up there.
“We’re going into every game thinking we have a chance to win. No team in this league, we think, is going to dominate us in a game. A really positive attitude in the squad.”
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