Joint-caretaker boss Paul Trollope says the Town squad will be using the emotion of this week’s departure of Rob Edwards as motivation to cause an FA Cup upset at Nottingham Forest.
The Hatters head to the City Ground having lost their past 10 matches away from Kenilworth Road with Trollope, together with Richie Kyle and Mick Harford, in the dugout on Saturday.
“It’s been emotional. It’s been a tough week and past few days but the success and memories built will make us stronger,” Trollope said at Friday’s press conference.
“It was emotional yesterday [Thursday] but we have to use that moving forward. Luton is built on spirit and togetherness and resilience in adversity.
“We’re in a tough moment. We’ve not won enough games and the margins have been small, especially in the past four games.
“The emotion was well used by the players and staff but we’ve got to clear our minds quickly because we’ve got a cup tie to prepare for. Football goes on and life goes on. Rob was a great manager, leader and human but we’ve dealt with it, spoke about it and now there’s a refocus to prepare for Saturday.”
Trollope, Kyle and Harford take charge against a Forest side who are joint-second in the Premier League having won their last six matches in the top-flight and the trio are aiming to come out fighting.
“We’ve shared responsibilities. Myself and Richie are on the training ground and Mick’s been in the office advising us. It’s been invaluable,” added Trollope.
“We’ve looked at the last performance and as a standalone performance, it was decent. It wasn’t everything we wanted it to be but there were elements we can take.
“We’ll embrace the challenge and come out fighting in a tough game. Forest are flying in the Premier League but we want to put in a Luton performance, with spirit and fight. We’ll impose our game and try and come out with a positive result and performance.
“We’re not worried about lifting the players. We came in and addressed the group and focus turned to Saturday. There were a few home truths but now we have a chance to show people and put things right a bit.”
Last season the Town drew twice with Nottingham Forest in the Premier League and the Hatters are unbeaten on their last three trips to the City Ground.
“We’re going into the game as underdogs but there are certain grounds where you have a good feeling. We had the comeback there last season at the end where our fans were,” said Trollope.
“That was a great time and we’ll try and harness that. We want to go there with a clear mind and a positive attitude. We want to embrace that and show what we’re about. We all share a sense of responsibility to put things right.”
