Boss urges Town to net first against Sandgrounders

Luton haven’t taken the lead since the 4-1 win over Macclesfield Town five games ago and to date have only managed the feat a mere three times this season.

It’s a fact Buckle is well aware of as he said: “The first goal changes every game in terms of mentality. You set your stall out tactically and technically, but a goal changes things,

“You’re talking about human beings and it does change things. If you go a goal behind sometimes you become a bit desperate and do things you wouldn’t usually do.

“If you go a goal in front it gives you the confidence and the platform to step on. It’s always a quest to get the first goal and it’s something we’ll be really really trying to do on Saturday.”

Speaking about the threat that visitors Southport possess, Buckle isn’t expecting them to take the game to his side as he continued: “It will probably be the case where they come to Luton and try to keep us quiet early in the game, get the crowd on our back, but that hasn’t happened this season.

“Our fans have been brilliant, no-one can ever aim that at us, so it’s up to us as we know we’ve got to try and set the tempo early on and take the game to them.

“Spirit is a big thing in football and when you go behind you see who you can count on and we saw on Tuesday we have a number of players we can count on.

“It’s a tough game, but it’s vitally important for us to start well, to come out and look to try and put them under pressure in the game.”

Although Hatters have only won once in their last four games, they are still fifth in the table, five points behind leaders Newport County and could move third with victory over the Sandgrounders.

Asked whether they had reached Buckle’s aims so far this campaign, the boss continued: “I never really had a target. The target for us is to try and get to the top of the league, it’s the same for all teams.

“There’s a big group of teams sitting in and around those top areas and it’s going to chop and change.

“We all won the other night, those who are up there, but it’s very early days.

“I have said that it takes an awful long time for the league to settle down, what we must do is concentrate on what we can do and one thing we must do is try and go out on the front foot.

“We need to try and get the blend in our game where we’re watertight all round, because we know we’re capable of scoring goals.

“It’s about the highs and lows. We started like a train, then had a little blip and now we’ve won again. We want to go on a run, but it’s also important to stay very level headed if you win lose or draw this stage of the season.”

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