Midfielder Andy Drury says he’s looking forward to returning to his former club Luton Town for this afternoon’s friendly (KO 3pm). The 28-year-old joined the Blues from the Hatters in January 2011 for £150,000.

Drury said: “I was only there for six or seven months but I enjoyed it and played some good football there.

“I got on well with the fans and the people around the place as well, so it’ll be nice to catch up with a few of them.

“It’ll be nice to get some more minutes under my belt. Cambridge was good as well, but I’m looking forward to Saturday."

He says he’s feeling good and getting into the right shape for the season ahead: “I feel relatively fit, it’s just about getting more minutes into my body now.

“I had two 45 minutes in Holland and Cambridge was my first 90 minutes, so it was nice to get that under my belt and hopefully I can get more minutes over the next four games before the season starts.

“I thought we played really well against Cambridge, it was an improvement from Holland and things are looking good at the moment.”

The loan signing of Massimo Luongo from Tottenham has added to Paul Jewell’s midfield options but Drury says he’s happy to fight for his place: “There’s been competition in midfield since I signed here, so I’m used to it.

“You always need a challenge for your place and hopefully I can do enough in pre-season to get the shirt from the first game.”

The ex-Sittingbourne, Gravesend and Northfleet, Lewes and Stevenage man was impressed with the Spurs man at Cambridge: “He did well, we played the diamond and he just sat in the hole, got on the ball, kept it moving for us and did a good job.”

Drury’s move from Luton to Ipswich saw him enter the Football League at the relatively late age of 27. He says the year and half since then hasn’t always been easy: “It’s been tough - not being in the team and going out on loan [to Crawley].

“I’ve had to work hard to get to where I am now. I’ll keep working hard and hopefully I’ll keep the shirt for the season.

“You appreciate it a bit more than you might have done, but all the boys work hard at this club, as far as I’m concerned. We all want to strive to get better and better.”

Meanwhile, Town target Steve Davies is set to be left out of the Derby side facing Burton Albion in a friendly today with the Rams keen to avoid the 24-year-old picking up an injury.

Derby boss Nigel Clough remains confident a deal will be concluded soon with the Blues and Rams having been in negotiations regarding a fee for much of the summer. The Midlanders are believed to have been targeting a figure of around £1 million with Town’s initial valuation around half that.

Squad: Ainsley, Bullard, Carson, Chambers, Chopra, Cresswell, Delaney, Drury, Edwards, Ellington, Emmanuel-Thomas, Hyam, Kourouma, Lawrence, Lee-Barrett, Loach, Luongo, Scotland, Stevenson, Whight.

Photo: Action Images

Dissboyitfc added 09:50 - Jul 28 If Davis does Join, he will have missed a pre-season, which will be a shame. Better late than never i suppose but there can be no excuses this season and the players "not having had a pre-season" was an excuse used far too much last season. I am still behind Jewell but dont want to listen to any excuses, time to deliver is here...Coyb
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oscarwhiting added 09:50 - Jul 28 Oww my god thought that ment he wanted to go back there for a sec. Few.
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Mark added 11:09 - Jul 28 I think Drury deserves a lot of credit for his application and attitude, and Jewell deserves praise for signing him for such a small transfer fee. As for Davies, let's hope we can get a deal wrapped up for him which is closer to £500K than £1M. I'd far rather him join us than Heskey, as he is 10 years younger and only an inch shorter, with a far better goalscoring record (I appreciate Heksey is physically stronger with arguably a different style of play).

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Joetown95 added 11:23 - Jul 28 If davies does join he wont have played a match for ages lets hope it doesnt take him 6 months to get going like JET.
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mugsykets added 11:47 - Jul 28 Anyone know why Lee Martin is not in the squad ~ is he injured?
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MattinLondon added 11:49 - Jul 28 It proves that there are still bargains out there. You just need a good scouting system, a bit of patience and a manager willing to take a gamble. There must be plenty of other bargains out there all over Europe. I'm looking forward to the new season.
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irishtim added 12:15 - Jul 28 Davies, Wickham, Chops, J.e.t. Lots of goals i reckon. Would love to get both davies & wickham.
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meekreech added 12:16 - Jul 28 With Lambert looking at the dutchman deal again does that mean he has dropped the stupid idea of taking Cressie ?
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Garv added 14:37 - Jul 28 Big fan of Drury. Very good signing, especially considering the price we paid. If he could add a few more goals to his game he could be absolutely huge for us, because he makes us play good football on the floor and gets his fair share of assists (not always direct assists, West Ham for JET's second for example, that was a fantastic ball with the outside of the foot). If Luongo is all he is cracked up to be, we could have our current best central midfield partnership right there. Then there's Bullard of course who is relatively similar to Drury, plus players like Hyam and Kourouma. Not entirely sure where Stevenson will fit in, but that's not looking too bad at all, mixing a lot of energy and bite with creativity and experience.

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bigolconnor added 17:07 - Jul 28 A poor defeat
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