Stat Attack: Notts County vs. Luton Town

Notts and Luton have faced off 66 times, with the first meeting coming in January 1912 when the Magpies secured a 4-2 away win in the FA Cup.

The record is heavily slanted towards the Hatters, who have 34 wins to Notts’s 13, 19 draws completing the head-to-head.

Out of the eight matches between the two that have taken place since the turn of the century, Notts have won two, drawn three and lost three, including the last fixture – a 2-0 defeat in League Two back in Match 2009.

Luton Town Football Club was formed on 11 April 1885, the product of a merger of the two leading local teams, Luton Town Wanderers and Excelsior.

The club was the first in southern England to turn professional, making payments to players as early as 1890 and turning fully professional a year later.

It joined the Football League before the 1897–98 season, left in 1900 because of financial problems, and rejoined in 1920.

Luton reached the First Division in 1955–56 and contested a major final for the first time when playing Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final.

The team was then relegated from the top division in 1959–60, and demoted twice more in the following five years, playing in the Fourth Division from the 1965–66 season. However, it was promoted back to the top level by1974–75.

Luton Town's most recent successful period began in 1981–82, when the club won the Second Division, and thereby gained promotion to the First. Luton defeated Arsenal 3–2 in the 1988 Football League Cup Final and remained in the First Division until relegation at the end of the 1991–92 season.

Between 2007 and 2009, financial difficulties caused the club to fall from the second tier of English football to the fifth in successive seasons. The last of these relegations came during the 2008–09 season, when 30 points were docked from Luton's record for various financial irregularities.

Luton then spent five seasons in non-League football before winning the Conference Premier in 2013–14, securing promotion back into the Football League.

The club's nickname, "the Hatters", reflects Luton's historical connection with the hat making trade, which has been prominent there since the 1600s. The nickname was originally a variant on the now rarely seen straw-plaiters. Supporters of the club are also called Hatters.

Luton is associated with two very different colour schemes—white and black (first permanently adopted in 1920), and orange, navy and white (first used in 1973, and worn by the team as of the 2015–16 season).

During the 2014–15 season, Luton Town had an average home league attendance of 8,702 – the second highest in League Two behind only Portsmouth.

In the 2013–14 season, when the club were in the Conference Premier, the club had significantly higher support than the other clubs in its league, with an average home attendance of 7,387; more than twice compared to the second highest of 3,568.

The record for the most appearances for Luton is held by Bob Morton, who turned out for the club 562 times in all competitions between 1946 and 1964. Morton also holds the record for the most Football League appearances for the club, with 495.

Fred Hawkes holds the record for the most league appearances for Luton, having played in 509 league matches.

Six players, Gordon Turner, Andy Rennie, Brian Stein, Ernie Simms, Herbert Moody and Steve Howard, have scored more than 100 goals for Luton.

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Liam Noble is available again after a three-match ban for Notts, while Roy Carroll, Mawouna Amevor and Rhys Sharpe are all back in contention following their return from international duty with their respective countries.

Gill Swerts, Haydn Hollis, and Stanley Aborah, all had to be substituted during Notts' last match against Mansfield in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, and Swerts' fitness is still in doubt.

Civard Sprockel, Blair Adams, Elliott Hewitt, Curtis Thompson, Rob Milsom and Kyle De Silva missed out against the Stags through injury.

Luton have midfielders Cameron McGeehan and Paddy McCourt available again, the former having been on international duty with the Northern Ireland senior team, while the latter was suspended after rejecting an opportunity to play for Northern Ireland Under-21s.

The suspended Jack Marriott is serving the second game of his two-match ban, and Paul Benson is considered doubtful because of a neck injury.

Full-back Dan Potts and midfielder Nathan Doyle are also both expected to miss out as both are carrying hamstring injuries.