Luton Town vs Birmingham

2022 - 7 - 30

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Birmingham City Football Club"

Team News: Luton Town v Blues | Birmingham City Football Club (Birmingham City Football Club)

Starting XI: John Ruddy, Dion Sanderson, Marc Roberts, Auston Trusty, Maxime Colin, Jordan James, Ryan Woods, Juninho Bacuna, Przemyslaw Placheta, Scott Hogan, ...

John Ruddy is between the sticks, with loanees Auston Trusty and Przemyslaw Placheta also in from the start against the Hatters. Birmingham City kick-off the new term with a trip to Kenilworth Road following a six-week pre-season schedule which included the arrival of new Head Coach, John Eustace. Starting XI: John Ruddy, Dion Sanderson, Marc Roberts, Auston Trusty, Maxime Colin, Jordan James, Ryan Woods, Juninho Bacuna, Przemyslaw Placheta, Scott Hogan, Troy Deeney (Captain).

Team News | Three debuts against Birmingham! (lutontown.co.uk)

Manager Nathan Jones has named his starting line-up for today's Sky Bet Championship league opener against Birmingham City.

Allan Campbell and Jordan Clark join summer signing Freeman in midfield, whilst attackers Harry Cornick, Cauley Woodrow, Dion Pereira and Cameron Jerome are amongst the game-changers that the Welshman could call upon. Captain Sonny Bradley leads a back five consisting of James Bree, Gabe Osho, Dan Potts and Amari'i Bell. The boss has handed three competitive debuts to Ethan Horvath, Luke Freeman and number nine Carlton Morris - the latter who joins Elijah Adebayo up-front.

Hatters boss names three debutants for Birmingham opener (Luton Today)

Hatters: Ethan Horvath, James Bree, Amari'i Bell, Gabe Osho, Sonny Bradley (C), Dan Potts, Allan Campbell, Jordan Clark, Luke Freeman, Carlton Morris, Elijah ...

Hatters: Ethan Horvath, James Bree, Amari'i Bell, Gabe Osho, Sonny Bradley (C), Dan Potts, Allan Campbell, Jordan Clark, Luke Freeman, Carlton Morris, Elijah Adebayo. Matt Macey and Cauley Woodrow were named on the bench, with Alfie Doughty and Reece Burke both missing out, while Elijah Adebayo is fit enough to lead the line. On-loan Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Ethan Horvath is selected between the posts, with Luke Freeman also included, along with forward Carlton Morris.

Luton Town vs Birmingham City: John Eustace era starts with a hard ... (Birmingham Live)

The latest Birmingham City news and views from BirminghamLive as John Eustace takes charge for the first time.

The clear plan for the Hatters is to get bodies and ball into the area, though. That's slowed Luton's pace and it's no longer the onslaught it was for the first quarter of an hour. I’m just preparing this team, getting the squad together and making sure we're competitive. He was kept out of Tuesday’s open training session but pictured in today’s handing John Eustace a big boost before his first official game as head coach. A Colin touch round corner sent Bacuna running at the three centre backs. Luton have made a fast start to this half too. James has no-one to pass forward to as Hogan doesn't given him and outlet. Blues arrive at Kenilworth Road with four new faces, John Ruddy as the one permanent signing and loanees Przemyslaw Placheta, Auston Trusty and Dion Sanderson in their ranks. They are struggling for ingenuity and an obvious route to goal though. A brave and competitive display. It looks as though Blues might hold on for a point here. Not too nervy at the end either.

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Foul by James Bree (Luton Town). 73' free_kick_won icon. Przemyslaw Placheta (Birmingham City) wins a free kick on the left wing. 70' ...

The last three weeks have been tough for the boys, but it's all been structured in how we want to defend, and we're pleased with the performance." I thought we created enough to have won the game, we must have had 12-15 set plays, and just couldn't find the opening. If we find the opening it would have been a different game but in terms of endeavour, in terms of everything else, I can't ask anything more." They tried right until the end, we're lacking a little bit of sharpness, which is understandable, as we had two weeks less than everyone. Luton's Nathan Jones: "We always want to win a game, especially at home, but it was a hard-fought game. However, Birmingham might have won the contest late on.

Birmingham grind out opening-day draw at Luton (BBC News)

Birmingham City made an encouraging start to life under new boss John Eustace as they avoided defeat at last season's beaten Championship play-off ...

Assisted by Juninho Bacuna with a cross following a corner. Attempt blocked. - Shots - 5Bradley - 32Osho - 34Horvath They defended the box for their lives. Collectively they were in the right areas. We had to come back, we've had a five-week pre-season, so a little bit of sharpness was lacking really. We had the better of the chances. Juninho Bacuna dragged wide for Blues, who went close when the overlapping Maxime Colin's drilled effort was parried away by Luton keeper Ethan Horvath, who had to punch out an inswinging corner from underneath his own bar. Despite 28 points separating Birmingham, in 20th, from sixth-placed Luton last season, Blues won the two meetings between them 8-0 on aggregate, starting 11 months ago with a 5-0 win at Kenilworth Road.