Tom Lockyer says he ‘absolutely loves’ keeping clean-sheets - after he and his Hatters team-mates claimed their seventh of the campaign with a 1-0 win against Hull City yesterday!
A hard-fought win at Kenilworth Road lifted Town into the play-off places thanks to Elijah Adebayo’s first-half header, and a solid backline display helped nullify the threat the away side posed in the following 45.
Securing seven points in the last three matches led to the defender saying post-match: “It’s been a great week hasn’t it? It’s been tough on the legs. Three games in a week is never easy, especially in the Championship. They call it one of the toughest leagues in the world for a reason, and personally I’ve loved every minute of it.
“It was a hard-fought win. No game is going to be easy in this league. We were 4-0 up against Coventry and until we got the fifth, we were backs against the ropes there.
“Hull came and gave it their all and as long as there is one goal in the game in any league, the opposition are going to throw men forward and you’re going to have to defend your box and do it properly. Until you get the second, it’s always going to be like that. Unfortunately we couldn’t get that, but we did enough to hold on in the end.”
The three matches have been challenging physically and mentally for the players but Lockyer was also pleased that his team mates could dig deep and grind out results when called upon.
“There are going to be times when you’re not playing well. I’ve played in teams that have been promoted. To get a run going, you’re not going to play well every week – it’s impossible, even the best teams struggle to play well every week. It’s the teams that can win when they’re not playing well, that can find themselves doing all right. We weren’t at it against Derby and we came away with a point.
"Some people look at that and say we could have done whatever, but Derby are in a false position. We went behind twice, away from home, I’m really happy with a point and especially when we’ve got the three points today – I think that’s a really good week.
And on a sold-out home crowd, Lockyer added: “I thought the fans were fantastic today. They could have easily got nervous, like when we played Swansea and we were holding on, and we could feel the nerves from the stands, but I thought today they were fantastic.
“They kept us going throughout when our backs were against the wall, and that’s exactly what we needed. We are going to need them a lot more this season and long may that continue, because they’ve been great so far.”