Cook backs Hatters to rise to the occasion against Argyle

So far this season, Town have taken eight points from a possible 12 against sides in the top three.

That includes a 3-0 victory at the Pilgrims on the opening day of the campaign back in August, as looking ahead to Saturday’s encounter, Cook said: “These are games that you want to play in.

“If we could play against a Plymouth or a Doncaster every week, we’d take it as we seem to perform against the better teams.

“I think Plymouth underestimated us when we went to their place and we took advantage of that. It’s one of those where I’d take a repeat of that any day.”

Hatters had looked to have severely hampered their chances of a top three finish after losing at home to Cheltenham recently.

However, they have since gone four games unbeaten in the league with two wins and two draws, as Cook continued: “Odd blips are going to happen, it’s how you react to it and I think we’ve reacted fantastic since (the Cheltenham loss).

“You’d like to think you can win every game, but the reality is you’re probably not going to.

“It’s what the gaffer keeps saying, how you react to it, how you prove people wrong.

“We’ve got to go out there and keep doing what we’re doing and going with our philosophy.”

Despite a 1-1 draw at leaders Doncaster Rovers on Saturday, Town fell five points away from the top three after Carlisle triumphed at Wycombe Wanderers.

With 14 games to go though, Cook has absolute faith they can still catch the Cumbrians, or even Plymouth, who they trail by eight points.

He said: “We’re going to keep on doing what we’re doing, keep on plugging away and keep getting results.

“We’ll not stop until it’s mathematically not possible to get into those positions.

“But we’ve definitely got the squad and definitely got the players who can do it. We just want to catch them, so we’ll give everything we’ve got.

“We should definitely be (in the top three) and that’s the disappointing thing for all of us, but we’ll never give in.

“You should have seen us (after 1-1 draw on Saturday), you’d have thought we had lost a play-off final the way everyone’s gutted and we got a draw at the league leaders at their place.

“We should have won, so I think that just sums up the squad and our mentality that we’ll never give in and always push to the last minute.”