Ian McParland firmly believes his side have 'a right game on their hands' this weekend as Notts County prepare to take on Mick Harford's Luton Town at Kenilworth Road with the Hatters aiming to defy the odds and shrug off the 30-point penalty dished out to them over the summer.

And despite losing on the opening day of the season against Port Vale Harford's men responded in emphatic fashion with a 1-0 win at Gillingham last weekend to move onto -27 points.

McParland knows his opposite number well having worked together at Nottingham Forest a few years ago, and he admits his side will be in for a really tough encounter against a side who he believes would have been in the running for a promotion spot had it not been for the points deduction.

"I would rather not be playing Luton Town at this precise minute to be honest with you," he said.

"I would rather be playing them in ten weeks time really, because Luton are coming out fighting, just like the other teams who have been deducted points wanting to win those points back straight away.

"The fans are right behind them down there and I know Mick Harford well and he will have them well, organised, battling and scrapping for every point.

"So we have a right game on our hands on Saturday. Luton would have been one of my favourites to go straight up had it not been for the points deduction."

And McParland feels it isn't just this weekend when his side face a tough fixture, because having closely looked at the starts handed out to all the teams in League Two he feels his side have the toughest.

He said: "I've looked at the start of the season fixtures for clubs, and when you look around you won't see a tougher start than the one we have been handed.

"Bradford, Darlington and Shrewsbury will all be up there come the end of the season, Luton were one of my favourites to do well had it not been for the -30 points and Doncaster, Wigan and Scunthorpe in the Cups are from higher leagues.

"We also have three of the next four games away from home. We have a lot to do because we are playing catch-up with a few teams already from the first two games, but we're going to approach the games in a positive manner and try and win the games.

"We are still building a football team here, and while we can take a lot from our first three games and how we have performed we have to win games because that is the name of the game.

"Patience is very important as well. We may get through these games and not have much to show from them, but I think we can.

"If we don't then it isn't the end of the world, because no-one has a tougher start than us in the League."

Remember you can hear Ian's full and exclusive pre-match interview on Magpie World right now, along with the views of centre-forward Delroy Facey as the Magpies head to Kenilworth Road in search of their first win of the season in League Two.