Bloomfield reveals why he called for a post-match huddle with his Luton players
Town boss wanted to thank his players following challenging week
Luton boss Matt Bloomfield revealed just why he decided to bring his players together for a post match huddle after their 1-0 victory against Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.
After one of the most testing weeks off the field for the Hatters chief, having seen Town turn in a woeful outing when beaten 3-1 at Lincoln City the previous weekend, coming under criticism from the near 1,500 supporters who travelled to the LNER Stadium, a number questioning his future as manager, plus his persistence to stick with a back three formation, that then intensified after club CEO Gary Sweet revealed in an interview with BBC Three Counties Radio, that although he fully backed the manager, he would have ‘no qualms’ in replacing him if results didn’t pick up, making it extremely clear that promotion is the only acceptable outcome this term.
With a feeling of trepidation surrounding supporters who then headed to Kenilworth Road on Saturday, that was allayed slightly by the teamsheets coming out at 1.45pm, with three changes made, which saw deadline day signing Shayden Morris get his first league start, while midfielder Lamine Fanne was in as well. Kick-off showed that Town had also moved to a back four made up of Christ Makosso, Mads Andersen, Teden Mengi and Kal Naismith, as the hosts turned in a much better display laced with fight and team spirit, with elements of quality as well, particularly when Morris and Fanne were on the ball in the first half.
It was Naismith who proved the match-winner, timing his run to perfection to beat ex-Hatter Matty Pearson to meet George Saville’s free kick and find the net, as although Nahki Wells then saw his penalty saved by Ian Lawlor, and a second half that was far lower on goalmouth incident, Town demonstrated their desire to claim all three points, as they battled their way to victory by keeping a fifth clean sheet of the season.
After the full time whistle, Bloomfield called his players into a huddle on the playing surface before they went round on their lap of appreciation, something that hasn’t really been seen at Kenilworth Road since the days of former manager John Still. Asked why had opted to do, the boss said: “It was a little bit off the cuff, just the togetherness this week has been fantastic. The boys have been tested a lot this week both physically and mentally, we’ve put a lot of work into them.
“Last weekend was low, I can’t remember another moment I’ve felt so low in three years of management because of the way it felt. The way it felt was not how it needs to feel and today it feels better, but it’s just one step so we have to make sure we use that as a stepping stone. It’s only a stepping stone, one result doesn’t define us like last Saturday didn’t define us. It gave us an opportunity to bounce back, today doesn’t define us, we have to use it as fuel to keep improving and that’s where my focus is.
"I felt like we’ve had a different focus about us this week, I felt like we’ve had a real good togetherness and that togetherness and spirit is why I’ve played team sports my whole life. I love being part of a group, I feel the responsibility of leading the group incredibly and it just felt like the right moment to have a moment together on the pitch to thank them for their efforts, to tell then I was proud of them and to recover right as we’ve got another big game on Tuesday evening.”
Although Luton didn’t quite get going in the second half as they had in the first, an exhausted Morris going off early on, it meant the only real attempt of note they had was a Milli Alli shot from distance that didn’t test visiting keeper Ian Lawlor. However, they were also able to restrict their opponents to very little in the final third, a poor touch from substitute Toyosi Olusanya smothered by goalkeeper Josh Keeley and Luke Molyneux’s off target attempt in the stoppage time the only moments of concern for a solid-looking home side.
Despite knowing they hadn’t been at their best in that second period, an understanding Bloomfield continued: “We’re still a work in progress, we’re not the finished article, you never are, but you have to keep going after those improvements. Again there’s probably a lot of mitigating factors as to why the energy just dropped off a little bit second half and we are up against a very good team by the way, we can’t take it for granted that we’re going to win any game in this league.
"Doncaster are a very, very good team, very well organised, been together for a while, got some really good players and they were always going to ask questions of us at some point. First half I loved our energy, I loved our intent, I loved our shape, there was lots to enjoy and I really enjoyed the first half, but second half we were asked different questions and psychologically we came through that so we’re really pleased with that.”
While he was eager to point out the significance of the result, Bloomfield also definitely wasn’t getting ahead of himself, especially with the Hatters heading out on the road twice this week, visiting struggling Blackpool tomorrow night and then going to second-placed Stevenage at the weekend.
He added: “It’s just one game, today is just one game, but it feels like it was a big game for us because had the result gone the other way it wouldn’t have been pretty. We have to get ourselves back together, travel up to Blackpool as a group, stand shoulder to shoulder again on Tuesday evening and put on another display, if we can do that we believe we can pick up some more points.”