Boss happy with first home win
John Still admitted he was relieved to see his side earn their first victory of the season following a 2-0 win over Salisbury at Kenilworth Road.
Goals in the second half from Solomon Taiwo and Luke Guttridge were enough for the Hatters to bounce back following Saturday’s defeat at Southport.
“I suppose I am relieved to be honest, I wanted that first win, especially at home and I’m delighted,” said Still.
“I thought we were efficient, and there will be lots of games where we’ll need to be efficient this season. We competed, and that’s the first thing you look for.
“We didn’t compete at Southport, we were poor on Saturday but tonight it was better. It wasn’t great but it’s still early days.
“The first six or seven games teams are always still sorting themselves out but we’ll keep getting better little by little.”
The manager introduced Andre Gray on the hour and three minutes later the substitute won the penalty that Taiwo converted.
And Still explained his reason for starting with last season’s leading goalscorer on the bench.
“Andre was a little bit behind in pre-season,” said the boss. “Jon Shaw and Mark Cullen were sharper and I think you owe it to the players and show them the respect that if they are in better form they should be playing ahead of those not in form.
“Andre’s come on in our last two games and done very well. He’s got his confidence and he’ll be ready to push on now.
“He’s one of the players who can light the blue touch paper for us. We need just need to stay solid and let our attacking players do what they can do. During pre-season we showed we can score goals and keep clean sheets – and hopefully we can get carry that on now.
“In the last two games we’ve not played very well but Mark Tyler’s not had a real shot to save.”
Still confirmed afterwards the Anthony Charles – who he promoted to the starting XI ahead of Alex Lacey because of his experience – was withdrawn with a shoulder injury. “I don’t think it looks very good,” said the boss who was awaiting a full prognosis on the defender’s problem.
The Town play a development game against Peterborough tomorrow with Alex Lawless expected to play on his return from injury.