Luton have been handed the opportunity to face former manager Nathan Jones’ Southampton in the FA Cup fifth round if they can get past Grimsby in the fourth-round replay.
Town drew 2-2 with the Mariners at the weekend, meaning they were in the hat for tonight’s FA Cup draw broadcast on the BBC’s One Show, and it set up a very mouth-watering tie at St Mary’s for the victor.
Jones left Luton in November to take charge of the Premier League basement boys, who despatched Blackpool in the last round. The manager also took his assistant Chris Cohen and coach Alan Sheehan before last week raiding his former club to sign right-back James Bree, who would be cup-tied if the two clubs were to meet in the fifth round.
Fifty per cent of the Welshman’s games have come in cup competitions, where Saints have won them all, including beating Premier League champions Manchester City to set up a two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final with Newcastle.
That has given Jones victory in 50 per cent of his games, but he’s yet to win in the league, while his replacement at Luton, Rob Edwards, has steered them to a place outside the play-offs and the potential to move third in the Championship if they beat Cardiff at Kenilworth Road tomorrow night.
The last time Town played Southampton was 12 years ago in the FA Cup third round when the Hatters were still a non-league club, going down valiantly 1-0 to a Rickie Lambert strike.
To go to Southampton and beat Judas Jones would be sweet justice. Poaching our best players for next to nothing too. The snake and the fake Saints fans who aren’t much better than watfud need putting in their treasonous place.