Bloomfield chasing the addictive feeling of euphoria after landing his first Luton victory

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield is chasing that addictive feeling of utter euphoria that comes with securing victory for the Hatters on a regular basis after securing his first win as Town manager when beating Portsmouth 1-0 at Kenilworth Road yesterday.

Having replaced Rob Edwards at the helm back on January 14, Bloomfield was closing on two months without a success ahead of Saturday’s contest, with his first eight games in the dug-out seeing him pick up just a measly three points. However, Jordan Clark's third goal of the season on 25 minutes, followed by a second half showing that was full of endeavour ensured Town finally broke that winless streak, allowing Bloomfield to celebrate with the home crowd as Luton lifted themselves off the bottom of the table.

It led to scenes of great joy for the manager at the full time whistle with the 10,000 or so Hatters supporters inside Kenilworth Road applauding him and his players off, going through their full repertoire of chants while doing so having witnessed a first home victory since December 20. Speaking afterwards, a clearly elated Bloomfield said: “It’s the addiction, that euphoric feeling you get in football. It’s addictive and you chase it. I’ve been chasing it for a number of years and I’ll keep chasing it.

"It was incredible, I’m really proud to be here. I’m really proud and honoured to have been given this job and to not share that moment with our supporters until now has been tough, really tough. But to walk round at the end and see the smiles, see the belief in everyone’s faces, the songs that were being sung and the moment the players had, they’ve been working incredibly hard, so it was a lovely moment. Seeing my family up in the crowd, they’ve been to every game and they feel it, so to see the guys there was touching and I hope our supporters enjoyed that today.”

Although a number of fans had felt prior to kick-off that the Hatters’ chances of remaining in the Championship this season were slim, given their 12-match winless run and picking up just seven victories all campaign, there was plenty of renewed optimism that Town could still be plying their trade in the second tier after the narrow success.

It wasn’t lost on Bloomfield either, who continued: “As long as they were singing at the end, and the noise they were making, I think they do believe. I absolutely do believe in our supporters. I’ve really understood their frustrations in the last few weeks. I get it, I understand it. They are passionate, they’re very knowledgeable and they spend a lot of money and time following their football club. We’ve not given them enough to cheer about and celebrate, but it really felt like a big moment at the end and we have to use that.

"We haven't cracked everything in one day and we’re not getting carried away with ourselves. There’s a lot of hard work ahead of us for the rest of the season, but today was a lovely moment and I hope it gives everyone a springboard to really enjoy the week ahead. We can look forward to three tough games coming up next week before the international break, we want to get more points on the board before that break to give us something to attack in April."

Asked if the clean sheet and battling nature of the 1-0 victory following last Sunday’s timid 2-0 defeat at local rivals Watford could have gone any better, Bloomfield continued: “Yes, two or three and relax a little bit would be lovely! But to keep a clean sheet at home, I think that’s three goals in five games at home now. We’ve not been conceding too many at home, but we just haven’t found those moments to get the points on the board in our favour.

"It does come down to those moments. It was emotional at the end, it was a relief, it was pride. Seeing the boys defend and the togetherness of the group, being able to enjoy that moment with our supporters. I was driving in this morning, again I was convinced today was our day, absolutely and utterly convinced our day was today and I'm pleased that it was.”

Looking forward to heading back into the Brache tomorrow morning, Bloomfield knew just how significant a result it was, especially with Luton travelling to title-chasing Burnley next weekend, adding: “It’s the parallels. If we had lost, how tough was that game going to be? And how tough was that week going to be? It’s still going to be a tough week but we’re going to have a spring in our step. We’ll have a spring in our step Monday morning and come into work, we can work hard again, there’s loads to do, but hopefully there’ll be more smiles.

"I want our supporters to enjoy their weekend and really look to attack that week. Burnley away, Cardiff away, before we welcome Middlesbrough back here. It’s going to be a tough week but we want to get some points on the board. We believe we can, we’ve got some very very good footballers and winning’s a habit. We want to get back into the habit and we want to get back to the belief and hopefully today can be a big day for us.”