Hatters midfielder Luke Berry was happy to play his first full match since March in the Sky Bet Championship draw against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Knowing that third place was already secured before kick-off following Middlesbrough’s defeat at Rotherham United, Berry believes that we have to keep the momentum going before the play-off campaign begins.
On the draw at Blackburn, Berry explained: “We were (disappointed). First half I thought we were a bit sloppy at times, we couldn’t get to grips with how they were moving the ball. When we did, I thought second half we came out real strong, but at the end of the day we don’t like to concede from a set-piece how it was. We are really strong there and in the changing room, we were quite disappointed that we didn’t get the three points.
“We want to win every single game, we don’t know what’s happening the other way, we just want to focus on ourselves and get the three points.
“They came out, but on the transition, I thought we were causing them problems. Sometimes we were a bit sloppy, and it was our own downfall when we were giving the ball away. Second half, we came out strong, I had a good chance which I should have put away and we just showed our quality.”
Berry gave the local press an insight into the work ethic of this season’s squad, saying “We’ve got such a strong squad, every day the boys are training full-on, even if you’re not in the starting line-up, I think that’s why we’ve done so well at times, the boys have come in and done really well.
“At the beginning of the season, we wanted to improve on what we did last season, and we did that. Now we just need to go into the play-offs strong, need to win against Hull City and keep that momentum going. What we’ve got at the moment is hard to get, you can’t train it, you can’t teach it, it’s something that’s just ingrained into the team, and we want to keep that going.”
Welsh international Tom Lockyer headed the ball in for his third Championship goal of the season shortly after half-time, and Berry described the defender as “brilliant”.
“Since he (Tom Lockyer) has been in the Team of the Season, two (goals) in two (games), yeah nice! He’s been brilliant, that’s not what he’s usually recognised for, he’s recognised for doing what he does, getting clean sheets and putting his body on the line, so it’s brilliant that he’s added that.”
On his own individual performance, Berry said “It’s nice for me to get 90 minutes in the tank, I’ve not had one for a couple weeks so it’s always nice to get that.
“I want to perform for the club, for myself and my teammates. It was a shame not to get the win, but it’s always nice to get out there and show what I’m about.”