Al-Hamadi understands Luton supporters venting their fury after Wigan debacle

Hatters forward Ali Al-Hamadi could fully understand Luton travelling supporters venting their frustrations at him and his team-mates following what was a shocking sixth successive defeat away from home when going down to a simply unacceptable 1-0 defeat at struggling Wigan Athletic on Wednesday evening.

Despite being beaten by Reading, Exeter City, Plymouth Argyle, Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City in their last five away outings, scoring just twice in that time, over 600 hardy souls still made the six hour-plus round trip to Greater Manchester last night in the vain hope that Town would surely end their recent woes on the road and push themselves closer to the play-off places once more, when taking on a Latics side who had lost five in a row in all competitions themselves, appointing Gary Caldwell as their new manager just over 48 hours beforehand.

It didn’t once look like the players got the memo though, as a terrible first half devoid of any entertainment was quite simply an awful advert for League One football, Luton’s best and pretty much only chance seeing Kasey Palmer’s free kick parried away by home keeper Sam Tickle. After the break, the hosts, without a home win since December 2, then came out with a far greater intensity and will to win, ex-Hatters forward Joe Taylor having two shots saved before he was to prove the match-winner with 17 minutes left, dinking over the advancing Josh Keeley for what was the only goal of the game.

Apart from one crazy spell of pinball inside the area during the last 60 seconds of stoppage time, Luton didn’t come close to showing the kind of desire or quality to draw level, making it a sixth successive defeat on their travels, taking just one point from a possible 24, with the scenes that greeted their 3-0 success at Stockport County in November, now feeling like an eternity ago.

At the full time whistle, Al-Hamadi was one of a number of players that went over to listen to those who were still present in the away end air their grievances, as the on-loan Ipswich Town forward was joined by Palmer, Jordan Clark, Teden Mengi, Nahki Wells, Shayden Morris, Jake Richards and Izzy Jones, with the rest of the Hatters side having already headed back down the tunnel.

Al-Hamadi then turned to hold both hands up and offer his apologies for the performance too, as speaking about the gesture afterwards, the Iraq international said: "I didn’t go over to have a go at anyone, I understand the frustrations, fans have got every right to say whatever they want to say and criticise whoever they want to criticise. They pay their money to come and watch us play, it’s their football club and they care. We care as players as well, so it’s more just like trying to show them, I understand your frustrations, we’re also hurting, we’re also going to get back at 3am and absolutely shattered and we have to go again in two days.

"I’m not trying to say a sob story, it’s just a reality. We’re hurting as well as players. We want to win games, we want to make them happy. Our families come to the games, our families are watching on TV, so we understand their frustrations and it wasn’t to have a pop at anyone, it was just to acknowledge that we’ve not been good enough and we’re just going to try our best to keep trying to turn it around away from home.

“There’s always harsh words between lads and harsh truths after a game. We need to look ourselves in the mirror first and foremost. Criticism will come, fans have got every right to criticise and they travel miles to come and watch us play, so when the team doesn’t perform or loses, they’ve got every right to be annoyed. We need to just try and block out that noise as much as possible, focus on our job as if you get too caught up in that then you’ve got no chance of performing on the pitch. We just need to keep going and try to find a way from away from home.

Asked just what it was like in what was an exceptionally glum dressing room after the contest, Al-Hamadi continued: “It’s not nice. You’re away from home on a Wednesday night, it’s freezing cold, so it’s not the best of moods. But this is part of being a footballer. It’s a long, gruelling season, so you’ve just got to go again. We’ve got a game in two days and that’s the reality of it.”

On whether he could put his finger on just why things are so different on the road to at home, Luton unbeaten in 10 matches at Kenilworth Road, with six victories in that time, the only reason they are still in with a shout of finishing inside the top six this term and not nervously looking over their shoulders at yet another relegation, Al-Hamadi added: “Thinking with an emotional head on you can come up with all sorts of emotional reasons, but as footballers we need to try and unpack it technically and tactically and see what is it that’s going on.

"There’s no denying we’ve just not had enough threat in attacking areas and we’re trying, we’re working on things in training and players are developing different connections. There’s been a lot of ins and outs in the team and it’s hard to get that consistency with knowing where the ball’s going to drop, knowing where your mates going to pass it to and we need to find a bit more threat in attacking areas. It’s not a lack of trying, it’s just trying to find tweaks tactically, technically, physically, emotionally, whatever it is and it’s down to us as players and as staff to try and find that.

"We need to find something away from home and at the moment we’re just not able to find that for whatever reason. We’re a bit naive, a bit soft, and myself too, I’m not blaming anyone, I’m just saying that’s the reality, that’s what it looks like and that’s what it feels like as well. There’s no hiding places and there’s still 14 games left and we want to get into those play-offs, so we’ve got to find a way. It’s like everything in life, we’re going to keep getting knocked back and we need to find a way to get through this little thing away from home and just find a way to win games.”