Luton boss praises appointment of referee for second leg

The official has had the whistle for 48 games so far this season, mainly at League One and Two level - although he's refereed a handful of Championship clashes.

Deadman has shown 159 yellows and seven reds in that time, with one dismissal coming in Luton’s 2-1 FA Cup defeat at Accrington Stanley back in January when he sent off Glen Rea for a rash tackle late on.

However, Jones believes the referee, who has also taken control of two other Luton matches this season, will handle the magnitude occasion correctly, saying “He’s excellent, I really like him.

“I like his attitude, how he refs it. For a big game like this I think it’s a wonderful appointment.

“He’s no arrogance about him that some have, there’s no agenda or anything, and that’s what I like.

“He’s approachable, you can speak to him, he’s fair, he’s not a respecter or a bower to reputation and I think we need that type tomorrow.”

The Hatters go into the game a goal down after losing Sunday evening's first leg 3-2 at Bloomfield Road.

Jones wants his men to have more of an edge about them in the second leg, which kicks off at 7.45pm on Thursday and will be shown live on Sky Sports.

He added: “You have to have edges to win games and maybe they’ll develop that because experience teaches you that.

“I was quite naive and a reasonably honest player until I got a little bit older and was a lot cleverer if you like.

“It’s not so much dark arts, I think it’s more being clever and I want to portray a reputation of being an honest, hard working manager and want my team to be that.

“If the referee had done his job (in the first leg) then it might have been something different at the end of the day, but lets not dwell on that.”