Boss pleased to be back at Kenilworth Road
Home is where the heart is and Town boss John Still is delighted that the Town return to Kenilworth Road after a spell of six successive away games when they entertain Welling on Saturday.
At a packed press conference – swelled by over a dozen journalism students from the University of Bedfordshire who were themselves quizzed by the manager – Still said: “It seems strange. I had to ask the other day what the last home game was, I couldn’t remember.
“It’s good to be playing back at home, there’s been a lot of travelling, but when I look back at the big picture of it all, I’ve been really pleased with what we’ve done and let’s hope we can push on now Saturday and Tuesday.”
The Town lost just once across the six away fixtures – against Saturday’s visitors Welling in the FA Cup two weeks ago – but have kept-up an unbeaten record in the Skrill Premier which now stands at 11 matches.
And Still explained the difference in mentality between playing away from home and at Kenilworth Road – where the Hatters are also unbeaten this term.
“When you go away from home, although you don’t play with a different mentality, I don’t anyway, I think you can be affected by things that you wouldn’t be at home,” said Still.
“In the players’ mind, with five or 10 minutes to go away from home in a game you’re drawing, I think the emphasis for them is ‘don’t lose’.
“When you’re at home I think it’s ‘win’. There’s a slightly different mentality attached to it, but it doesn’t come from me, I try to win away from home.
“As a player, if you can come away from home saying we’ve got something, that’s a plus.
“But as a manager, I’d sooner go for three points and lose one. When I was a player, I’d have gone ‘hold on, five minutes to go, let’s not give anything away, let’s be tight, let’s make sure we do this properly’ and get something from the game.
“Maybe there’s been a game or two where, if we’d have really pushed, we’d have got the three points, but equally there may have been one or two if we’d have really pushed, got beat and got no points. But, if I look at the big picture, I’ve been really, really pleased.”