Boss taking the positives from Saturday's second half
Paul Buckle is hoping his side can learn from the lessons of Saturday’s opening day draw with Gateshead starting at Kidderminster on Tuesday night.
The Town travel to Aggborough buoyed by a strong second half display at the weekend that saw them come from two goals down to earn a point.
“We’re on the up now,” the boss told the media at Monday afternoon’s press conference. “I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t good enough on Saturday – but we’re in a better position now having comeback from 2-0 down.
Watch 10 minutes of the manager's press conference on Hatters Player
“We showed the players the second half of Saturday on the DVD and it illustrated that when we’re on the front foot teams find it hard against us.
“I was angry after the game and rightly so. I don’t want to watch that and the players here haven’t come here to play like that.
“The fans let themselves know how they felt at half-time but in the second half we were up and running and the character shown was great – and we could have even won the game after that.
“It was a wake-up call for us. The way we conceded the first goal reminded me of the Braintree game last season, and we can’t have that if we want to be winners. We need to be men and start standing up to be counted.
“At half-time I chose not to shout at them, I felt they needed help and encouragement but after the game there were a few choice words.
“I was angry and rightly so.”
The Hatters’ form on the road last season was a major disappointment with only seven victories achieved away from Kenilworth Road throughout the campaign.
With Aggborough a happy hunting ground for the Town (four wins and one draw for five visits) Buckle wants his team to make up for Saturday’s performance by winning three points.
“It will be hard because everyone wants to beat Luton Town,” continued the boss. “We want to put things right – a draw on Saturday wasn’t good enough. We want put down a marker.
“Away games are tough because you’ve got to be a bit more gritty, do the horrible side of things more and crowd are against you.
“But I want us to win every game and that’s what we’ll go there and try and do on Tuesday.”
Buckle will be without the services of Jake Howells on Tuesday as the midfielder joins up with the Welsh Under-21 set-up.
That, coupled with the decision whether to install Jon Shaw to starting line-up after his goal on Saturday, gives the manager a selection headache.
“It’s great for Jake but it does leave us without him,” he said. “It means somebody else will have to step-up.
“As for Jon, I’m governed by him. He knows his body and if he’s feeling good he’ll start.
“I rarely single out players for praise but on Saturday there was no hiding away from the fact that he changed the game.
“You could see why he scored 30 plus goals last season, he put his body on line and looked the real deal.
“It’s good that he scored and what he’s missing through fitness he’ll make up in confidence gained from that goal.”
We’ll have full coverage of Tuesday’s trip to Kidderminster with live score updates and live audio commentary throughout the 90 minutes as well as the usual news, views, photographs and reports post-match on lutontown.co.uk and Hatters Player.