Mixed day for new striker
For new signing Jon Shaw the 2-2 draw against his former employers on Saturday was bitter-sweet.
The Hatters’ new number 9 hauled his side back into contention with a 61st-minute debut strike against Gateshead before Stuart Fleetwood’s equaliser wiped out the visitors’ two-goal advantage.
And after such a disastrous first half display the 28-year-old was content to take a point on the opening day.
“I don’t think we deserved to win on the evidence of our first half display,” Shaw told Hatters Player. “It’s a bitter-sweet day for me though, it was good to get a goal and, in the end, we have to be slightly happy with the result.
“We’ll go back and work on the things we didn’t do so well with and in some ways it’s good that mistakes have been highlighted now, at this early stage.
“We can brush up on things and come back stronger. It’s a long season and you never know we might look back on the point come the end of the season and realise how important it was having been 2-0 down.
“Everyone wants to have a perfect season but that’s almost impossible, we’ll take a point after what happened in the first half.”
After 35 goals last season – which included one bullet header against the Town – it may have came as a surprise to some to see the striker lurking six yards out for a tap-in.
“I suppose everyone expects me to score the kind of goal I scored against Orient,” Shaw continued. “It’s a rare one for me to score at such close range but with the quality we have you need to be in the box and ready, and it was a great ball from Stuart Fleetwood.
“I was hoping to come on at some point in the second half, perhaps if were 1-0 or 2-0 up, and play a role in a win but in the end we showed great character to come back and get a point.”
Watch this interview with Jon on Hatters Player