Boss delight at FA Cup victory
Paul Buckle revelled in the Town’s FA Cup victory over Wolves and hailed the tremendous effort of his players following the 1-0 win.
Alex Lawless’ goal 42 seconds into the second half was enough to book the Hatters a ticket to the fourth round for the first time in 2007, and the manager hailed the “deserved” victory over the Championship side.
“I’m delighted for the players, the fans and everyone associated with the club,” he told Hatters Player afterwards. “We weren’t lucky, we deserved it.
“The atmosphere was electric and Wolves found us in no mood to lie down. It was top performance against a really good side.
“We know we’ve caught Wolves at a good time but it was a tremendous effort. We were hard to break down and Alex scored a wonderful goal.
“Although Wolves have been on a bad run they still had a wealth of talent and experience on the field and all credit to our players because they’ve pulled of a great cup shock.
“We had the belief to win. I asked the players before if they did too and they all nodded. The players have put a real shift in and they’ll be some tired legs on Sunday but they’ll be all smiles tonight.”
Confidence is a wonderful thing and Buckle now hopes the victory can be a springboard for success in the bread and butter of the league – starting on Tuesday against Barrow at Kenilworth Road.
“We’ve got to take this into the league now,” he said. “We are good enough. We’ve fallen a bit behind the league. We have three games in hand and we’ve got another cup game next week so we’ll fall behind even further, but I wouldn’t swap that for beating Wolves.
“After the Woking game we came in on Thursday and watched the DVD. We got that out of our system, moved on, worked hard and we’ve got our reward. All I want now is for us to go on a run in the league.
“Pressure isn’t a nice thing to have – anyone’s who’s got the answer to dealing with pressure in league games let me know. We must use this victory as experience because it shows we are good enough. We just need to start showing it on a more regular basis.”
So the fourth round beckons for the Town. And who does the boss want?
“Arsenal at home,” he said. “We want anyone at home because the fans played their part, they were out of this world.
“When we get it right, together as force – this club, the players and supporters – it’s a tough place for anyone to come and Wolves were witness to that.”
The boss confirmed JJ O'Donnell has broken a nose and Jon Shaw required stitches in a head injury sustained in the first half.
The Hatters will be ball number 31 in Sunday's fourth round draw.