Preparation is key says the boss
John Still is hoping there won’t be a repeat performance of the opening 20 minutes of last Saturday's game with Accrington when the Town take on Capital One Cup giantkillers Shrewsbury on Saturday.A nightmare start saw the Hatters trail 2-0 last weekend before goals from Luke Rooney and Jake Howells rescued a point at the Crown Ground.
Still was seething about his team’s lack of preparation in the wake of the draw and the manager wants to see a response from the Town against a Shrewsbury side buoyed by their 1-0 win over Premier League Leicester on Tuesday night.
“I do understand, we had the long journey to Carlisle and it was a long journey to Accrington too,” Still told the media on Thursday.
“I can sit back and use those as excuses, I can. I can also say we’ve had to play Jake Howells at left-back and Fraser Franks right-back in other games, so the continuity hasn’t been there. I can quite rightly say that, and feel confident about it.
“But if I say it and not really believe that’s the reason, I’m doing the players a disservice, and the players are better than that – they deserve me to treat them with more respect than that.
“Sometimes, people for whatever reason aren’t quite right, that’s life, it just happens in all walks of life and in all sorts of jobs…
“But there are certain jobs it happens where it shows up, sport being one of them.
“A boxer doesn’t prepare properly, he gets knocked down, cricketer’s don’t prepare properly, they don’t get any runs, don’t take wickets, because it’s obvious.
“Football is the same and it comes under the heading I’ve used a couple of times, you can’t be a little bit pregnant, you can’t be a little bit ready, you’re either ready or you’re not.
“The greatest thing we did was get ready during the game – and that’s not easy, and we actually pulled that round.
“Lots of people I spoke to said ‘you must be delighted you came back’. Of course I was delighted we came back, but that made me even more disappointed in one way, because it showed what we were capable of if we’d have been ready.
“As we found on occasions last year, things happen to you, and it’s how you respond to what happens and we responded very well, but it doesn’t make me happy."