Bloomfield declares Luton's fighting spirit shone through with Hull victory

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield insisted his side showed their desire to fight and get out of the Championship relegation zone with a crucial 1-0 victory at fellow strugglers Hull City this afternoon.

With the Hatters needing to pick up a victory at the MKM Stadium to avoid being cut adrift below the dotted line, they did just that courtesy of a bizarre own goal from Alfie Jones just seconds after the break, the Tigers defender unwittingly deflecting Lewie Coyle’s clearance into the net with his face. From then on, Town dug in defensively, with Mark McGuinness and goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski in particular excelling, as they picked up a first clean sheet on the road for over six months to cut the gap on their hosts to three points.

Bloomfield, who has now masterminded successive away victories, with Luton also winning a third game in five matches having seen off Portsmouth at Kenilworth Road, said: “We’re in there fighting every day in training. We’ve got a huge amount of work ahead of us and we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves, but that’s three wins in five now, so we’ll get in the building on Monday and keep fighting.

“We’ve got to be really proud of the performance today. I thought we started incredibly well, hit the post, a couple of decent chances and then being the away team there was always going to be a time where we had to defend and we did at times. The goal was obviously extremely fortunate but in terms of our performance, the endeavour, the way the boys are playing, the shape at the moment, there’s a lot to be really, really pleased and really, really proud about.

“The fans want to see our boys’ grit and determination, that’s what the club stands for and they saw that. As manager of that team I’m incredibly proud of them as they’ve had some tough time the boys. We’ve got lots of work to do but we’ve given ourselves a good base level of performance and a good base level of shape and identity. The identity is coming back and we’re really, really pleased with that.

“I know everyone’s going to want to talk about the goals for, but the endeavour of the group is incredible. One thing I feel in life is the harder you work, the luckier you become. We’re working incredibly hard, we’ve had some real nearly moments that have gone against us since we’ve been here. The belief comes through, the moments turn in your favour and we have to believe that more will turn in our favour.”