Winger aims to repay the faith after Mansfield brace
Last Saturday’s two-goal hero Shaun Whalley is desperate to impress the Hatters faithful further after his brace helped down Mansfield.
The winger, who joined the Town last summer from Southport, has seen his opportunities limited at Kenilworth Road, but now he hopes his recent performances can help him stake a regular claim in the team.
“My Luton career hasn’t really started yet,” Whalley admitted after his man-of-the-match display. “I’m hungry and I just want to show everyone that I can stay here and do really well for Luton.
“This is the club for me. I don’t want to be anywhere else. This club is going places and I want to be there with them.”
The winger struck twice in a four-minute spell in the second half against the Stags to seal a comfortable 3-0 win for the Town – their seventh successive League 2 victory at Kenilworth Road – the first a cross-cum-shot that nestled in the top corner before a superb second from the edge of the box.
“For the first I just tried to smash it across goal,” explained the 24-year-old. “If the keeper saves it hopefully someone gets the rebound. As soon as it left my boot I knew it was flying in the top left stanchion, so I was made up.
“The second goal was pleasing too, the confidence of scoring the first gave me the confidence.”
Whalley spent the back end of last season on loan at AFC Telford where he helped the Bucks win the Conference North title.
And the winger thought that after the Hatters’ promotion to the Football League he might be on his way out of Kenilworth Road.
“The manager’s shown a lot of faith in me because he probably could have gotten rid of me in the summer, in all honesty, but he’s stuck with me,” admitted Whalley.
“He knows I can do it and I know I can do it, so I just want to prove him right and obviously he wants to be proved right. Hopefully I’ve done that.
“The gaffer has shown incredible faith in me and I’ll never forget that.
“To put me in when we were unbeaten in 11 and won nine of those games is a massive confidence boost.
“Hopefully I can keep repaying his faith.”