Boss on another important weekend for the Town
It’s make or break time at the top of League 2. And crunch time for both Luton Town and Southend United – which makes Saturday’s meeting between the two at Roots Hall a mouth-watering prospect.
Both need the points for different reasons. The Hatters’ requirement is simple enough: better Plymouth’s results over the course of the next two matches and a place in the Play-Offs is theirs. Likewise, for Southend: better Wycombe’s results and they will be promoted automatically.
A draw for the Town would not be the end of the world. After all, the Hatters make the trip to Essex to take on a Shrimpers side who have won their last six matches – all without conceding a goal.
But John Still, 65 today, would rather the Hatters did not rely on a potentially do-or-die showdown with Stevenage next week – the Town will be gunning for victory at Southend.
“We’ll play to win,” the boss said at his Thursday press conference at Kenilworth Road. “If at the end of the day you get a point, and it’s a useful point, that’s great, but we’ve got to go and try and win.
“We could have set out with 10 men to get a point at Dagenham and we played with two forwards, the team always wants to win.
“If we got a point, I wouldn’t moan about that, but we’re not going to play for a point. It’s important we go and try to attack, we’re best when we do that, we’ll go to attack, I think they’ll try to attack too.”
The Town’s rollercoaster season had dipped significantly in March but the recent rise in form has given them a fighting chance of breaking into the top seven with the season reaching its dramatic climax.
Seven straight defeats would have knocked the best of dressing rooms for six (or seven) but the up-turn in form – seven points from four games, and three clean sheets – is testament to the team, says Still.
“To get to this stage still with an interest, with what’s gone on this season,” continued Still, “is a massive credit to the players – dragging themselves kicking and screaming to find a couple of results and some good performances in the last few weeks.
“We’re delighted to go into this stage of this season with an opportunity.
“We’ve got two games against two teams who are in and around us, a bit higher than us and a quite interesting seven days.”
Will the picture become clearer come 5pm on Saturday? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s going to be exciting finding out, isn’t it?
The Town’s game at Southend will be live on Hatters Player from 2.55pm with live commentary direct from Roots Hall. Highlights will online from noon on Sunday. Click here to find out more and subscribe for as little as 10p per day.