SWINDON Town head coach Luke Williams says he has no sympathy for tonight’s opponents Luton Town after they were one of 12 clubs fined for fielding weakened teams in the Checkatrade trophy.

The League Two club were fined £15,000 - £5,000 per group stage match – despite finishing as runners-up in Southern Group H.

Town play host this evening in the second round of the much-maligned competition but Williams is not prepared to second guess what manager Nathan Jones, who he knows from their time at Brighton and Hove Albion, when it comes to selection tonight.

“If they feel the fine is something they can suffer and can pay without it damaging them too much then they will do that,” he said.

“They will have thought of everything and there will be a reason behind everything and it is something they have gone into with their eyes open.

“I think it would be foolish to think we know exactly what team they are going to put out but whatever team Luton will put on the pitch, it will be strong and competitive.”

Meanwhile, Williams, who could have midfielder Yaser Kasim and defender Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill at his disposal following their respective ankle injuries, is anticipating another mixture of youth and experience in order to not fall foul of the rules themselves.

However, he will not know what effect the 10 days without a game will have on his squad until they take to the pitch tonight.

“It is hard to know until we play and we see if there is an improvement in performance,” he added.

“There was a group that trained slightly more than the rest because they needed to be pushed harder and the rest had that time to recover."

With seven points from their last four league games, Town should be full of confidence heading into tonight's fixture.

However, previous experiences this term has made Williams overly cautious but he would like a positive experience in the Trophy to date to continue for as long as possible.

“I’ve seen the group before off the back of a couple of good results and then underperform and get beat,” Williams explained.

“I don’t want to talk too much about the future of this group because they are yet to prove to us that they can be consistent.

“I think we should think of it as an opportunity rather than a distraction.

“It is an opportunity to compete in a tournament and learn from that because it is different from the league.

“It is something all the players we have got should learn from because they are, hopefully, going to be involved in more cup competitions throughout their career.

“It’s also an opportunity to go and play a competitive game and perform and hopefully that can have a knock-on effect with your league programme.

“Nobody likes change. If you are successful you like the competition and if you’re not, then you think it is a waste of time.

“As we get closer towards the end of the tournament, those teams that have had a good run and some good victories will think it is a great idea.”

The recent cold weather should also have no bearing on tonight’s pitch, with groundsmen Marcus Cassidy taking precautions over the weekend.