Football, like life, has a nasty habit of bringing you back down to earth and it is very rare the landing is a soft one.

Eighteen months ago Coventry City and Luton Town came face-to-face at Wembley with a place in the Premier League at stake.

The Hatters took the honours and then plenty of plaudits for the way they came so close to staying in the top flight.

Meanwhile, Coventry recovered from that Wembley defeat to finish a creditable ninth in the Championship last season and come within the width of a toenail of beating Manchester United in an FA Cup semi-final.

But time and football don’t stand still and this weekend the two meet with the Sky Blues in the relegation zone and Luton just two points above the dotted line.

Mark Robins’ side have lost four of their past six league matches with the manager – the longest-serving in the Championship, and by some distance – asking fans to stay positive despite a poor start to the campaign.

Ellis Simms managed 19 goals in all competitions last season but has found the net just twice so far – they need him to start firing.

Luton, like all teams fresh from the Premier League and awash with parachute payments, were expected to make a much better fist of things than they are at present.

While fellow relegated sides Burnley and Sheffield United are among the front runners, Rob Edwards has watched his team win just three of their opening 11 games.

Just like Coventry they have goalscoring issues, especially on the road, as only Stoke City and Plymouth Argyle have found the target fewer times than the Hatters’ two on their travels.

You wonder what the consequences might be for the defeated on Saturday.