Bloomfield will use booing as 'fuel' to succeed as Town boss insists he can win Luton fans back

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield insists he will use the negative reaction he received from Town’s travelling fans during and after the 3-1 defeat at Lincoln City on Saturday as ‘fuel’ to succeed at Kenilworth Road while also remaining confident he can win the Hatters’ fans back onside once more.

A well below par and quite frankly embarrassing display at the LNER Stadium by the visitors saw the hosts deservedly take a 12th minute lead when they were cut open by the impressive Freddie Draper’s pass, Ben House allowed to go clean through to easily beat Josh Keeley. With Town barely unable to string any moves together of their own in the opening half an hour, with passes either being over-hit or, on a number of occasions going straight out of play, there were audible signs of disappointment from the away end before the half hour mark, with plenty of the near 1,500 in attendance making their way to the concourses with almost 10 minutes of the 45 remaining.

Town did start to show some belated signs of life in the latter stages of the first period, Nahki Wells volleying wide and Jordan Clark’s shot touched over by Imps keeper George Wickens, while once Shayden Morris came on after the break, it looked like they might escape with an unlikely point when Clark cleverly turned in Mill Alli’s pass from a short free kick.

However, with five minutes to go, the Hatters back-line fell apart once more, substitute Justin Obikwu taking advantage of an error by Christ Makosso to beat Keeley once more and then House notching his second even later, when bending into the bottom corner after yet further questionable defending. It led to chants of ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ and ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ from the away supporters before the final whistle, with Town’s fans continuing to let their feelings be known when Bloomfield went over to show his appreciation.

Asked how much it hurt to witness that kind reception, and whether he thought he could win supporters back over, the boss, who was appointed in January, said: “Yes, we’ll keep working to turn results. Football supporters want their teams to, I’m not telling you what our supporters want, I’m sure they can think that for themselves, but in general, football supporters want their team to show heart and desire and be picking up points. We didn’t show that today so they’re well within their rights to question what’s going on.

“You have to front it up, that’s my job as a manager, front it up. That’s the reason I wanted to do this job, the responsibility that it brings. I relish that, I enjoy the responsibility that it brings and when things aren’t going right you have to front it up. I totally understand our supporters’ frustration, I totally understand their desire to see things being better on the pitch, but I can assure you and I can assure everybody that no-one cares any more than I do. I’ll be working night and day to try and put things into a better light and try to create better results, and I’ll continue to do so."

On whether he can use the poor performance and the response from fans as motivation to put things right, Luton falling to a third defeat from four league games, slipping to 11th in the table, Bloomfield continued: “Listen, I don’t think I could be any more determined, but it’s fuel, it’s absolutely fuel. I have a high desire, a huge desire to put everything right, to get more points on the board, to have our team playing the way we all believe they can.

"We’re in a tough moment right now, but the only way you get out of these tough moments is to stick together, keep working hard and come out the other side stronger. I have a huge pride in my work, in our work as a group, and of course it hurts. I’m human, football managers are human, it comes with leading a life in this job, resilience. You have to build your resilience and you have to dig deep and you have to keep working and believe in what you’re doing. I believe in what we’re doing and we have to find ways to make that come out stronger.

"I think this is the first performance this season, Bradford away wasn’t good enough, today wasn’t good enough, this is the first time in a little while I’ve had to stand here and give my honesty. The last two home games we’ve got beat, but we’ve had 43 shots of which 37 were in our opposition’s box. We need to take those moments more, but today there’s no excuse, it wasn’t good enough and we have to be better.”

Although Bloomfield admitted he would wait until Town were back in training before going through things with his players, he couldn’t hide his frustration at the way in which they were breached for the second time in the game. With Luton finally enjoying some kind of ascendancy, they switched off from a clearance by keeper Wickens, which the boss had drilled into his players beforehand, as Tom Draper easily beat Alli, who appeared to leave the ball, in the air and then with Christ Makosso heading against Obikwu rather than away, it allowed the replacement to do the rest in clinical fashion.

He said: “It’s a simple ball up. We explained all week, the goalkeeper delivers out to the right hand side, we have to win first contacts, be ready for the seconds. Lincoln are very organised, we knew what was coming, we prepared for that. We got ourselves back in the game and then a long goal kick out to the right hand side, Milli stops as he heard a shout from behind, he thought it was Cohen (Bramall), but we’ve just got to compete on the first one.

"I’d rather have two players competing than none, they flick it through, ricochet of Christ and he’s one on one. The third goal, we stop, it’s unacceptable and I’m not going to defend it from us today. It didn’t catch us out, we knew what was coming. Their goalkeeper delivers out to the right hand side, there was one after about two minutes, he delivered out to the right hand side, we prepared for it all week, so we need to execute better, we need to be better and improve.

“I’m honest with the boys, I will always be honest. They understand where I stand right now and I will always front it up, tell the boys what I think, but Monday’s a time for discussion, today was not a time for discussion. I’m hurting right now, we have to be hurting right now when results aren’t in our favour and we have to use that to keep working and come back stronger."

Asked just how he will begin to turn things around, Luton entertaining Doncaster Rovers on Saturday and then heading to Blackpool next Tuesday, he added: “Get back on the training ground and work, that’s the only way I know how. Get back on the training ground and work, look for different ways to try and deliver the same message if that’s what the boys need, a bit of a freshness, but we’ll get back and we’ll keep working.”