'Underestimate Luton at your peril'

Geoff Doyle, BBC Three Counties Sport

Luton Town are one of those wonderfully annoying teams who won't give up.

No matter if they are taking a beating, they keep coming back for more like a boxer who's hit the deck a few times but still drags themselves to their feet and carries on slugging away irritating their opponent.

Sometimes it isn't enough, but if you keep doing it rewards will - and do - come.

Nottingham Forest thought it was game over on Saturday when they went two up. With just over ten minutes to go Steve Cooper made a triple change, taking off two big-hitters who act as the spine of the team - Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare (Cooper said it was because they had been on international duty, but I suspect he's regretting it now) - and there was an air around the City Ground that the job had been done.

But Luton weren't done. As manager Rob Edwards told me afterwards: "These lads never, ever quit."

I won't run through the full lyrics, but the Hatters' famous war-song against the football authorities for the perceived injustices of the points deductions 15 years ago, which nearly saw them go under, includes the line "they tried to kill us off, we're not so soft". It applies to the football club as a whole. The team beautifully mirror the sentiment.

Edwards doesn't just believe it's about not giving up. He thinks his side have ended strongly in every game: "We fight all the way to the end. We finish games strongly. We've done that consistently now throughout this season."

The majority of Luton's opponents will dominate possession and chances (I expect Aston Villa will on Sunday) and I'm sure many will get the feeling that a win is inevitable. But with what this club has gone through, the Hatters are made of sterner stuff on and off the pitch.

You underestimate them at your peril - this lot will keep punching to the bitter end.

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