Bramall urges Town to be more 'cut-throat' as he demands Hatters show more 'belief'

Luton wingback Cohen Bramall has called on his side to become more ‘cut-throat’ and show the ‘belief’ that has been lacking recently in order to get their League One campaign up and running once more.

The Hatters go into the contest sitting seventh in the table, as following a run of four straight wins in all competitions, ended by a goalless draw against Rotherham United, they have won just once in their last six league games, claiming four draws in that time. Having rescued points with late goals against both Bolton Wanderers and Leyton Orient, the Hatters then took the lead against bottom side Port Vale at the weekend, courtesy of Bramall’s truly stunning free kick.

However, they then conceded two poor goals, just before and after half time, to fall 2-1 behind, as it needed Mads Andersen’s header from Liam Walsh’s corner to ensure they came out with a point, as speaking afterwards, a rather despondent Bramall said: “We're gutted. Again, we're getting momentum too late on in the game, it's just believing in ourselves more and taking more chances and being confident in ourselves. We're leaving it late to just have more belief, that's all it is, it’s just believing in ourselves a bit more and being more cut-throat earlier."

Bramall was particularly disappointed to give away the advantage in such soft fashion on Saturday, as Milli Alli gave away a needless free kick out wide, with Ruari Paton’s set-piece headed in by an unmarked Ben Waine to make it 1-1. Some more slack defending allowed Devante Cole to tap in from a few yards out in the second period as well, with Bramall continuing: “It’s just before half time, they’re gassed, they’re really happy with that and it’s a kick in the teeth, but we have to show a bit of balls and go again, heads down and go.

"We can’t start the second half how we started the second half. That’s their game, they want to go along and collect second balls, that's not us. It could have been 3-1, that's just down to believing in ourselves a bit more. We’ve got great players in the team and we know what we can do, so it’s just frustrating. We know what we can do in there, the lads know, and it’s just frustrating we got a draw. It’s annoying, but we brush ourselves down and we go again Thursday.”

The lack of belief was also referenced by boss Jack Wilshere during his post-match press conference on Saturday and asked on Wednesday just how he has gone about working on that in training this week, the manager said: “We have to keep working towards something and I think we have. We’re starting to build an identity of who we want to be and we can execute it a lot in training and I feel like we are doing it in games in certain moments.

"We just need to be a little bit more consistent with it and when things get a little bit tough we have to believe in it still and be consistent with it. I thought in the Port Vale game we went 1-0 up and then we conceded a cheap goal from a set-play and that changes the game completely, changes the feel in the stadium. That’s when we need belief and to keep going with the things we always talk about.”

Despite the lack of optimism ruminating amongst the players, it clearly isn’t affecting Bramall on a personal level as he has been Town’s main shining light in recent weeks, scoring wonderful free kicks against Port Vale and Stockport County, adding to his effort in the Vertu Trophy with Barnet too.

Having been played in a more advanced role, he is also flying down the wing on a more than regular basis, sending a number of crosses into the box, as on his own displays, he said: “I'm getting more confident every game. It’s a different role for me now, the gaffer and coaches, they just tell me to believe in myself more and back my ability as I have the strength of being quick and a bit agile and just whipping a ball in. It's good, it's nice that the coaches believe in me so it makes me believe in myself even more which is good.”

After being selection in a more defensive left back role in the 1-1 draw at Leyton Orient, it cut down Bramall’s ability to get forward quite considerably, as he was then moved to a more attacking role once more at the weekend, which led to him speeding down the flank whenever the chance arose. Wilshere was left hugely impressed with the former Arsenal youngster, but knows his team-mates need to be better when the ball is being fizzed into the box from the wing, adding: “Cohen played as a left back on Tuesday and he didn’t give as much threat as he has been doing so we wanted to put him back a little bit higher and I thought he was outstanding with that.

"He was the guy who was taking responsibility, he was wanting the ball and driving the team forward, an amazing goal as well. I thought his decision-making was good. We’ve spoken a lot about wingers taking risks, I love what Cohen did as he drove the team forward and then sometimes he got to the byline, looked up and no-one was in there, so he cut back. Sometimes he got there, breaking down the left hand side, Browny (Jacob Brown) was getting in the box and Milli (Alli) was getting in the box, but maybe we just didn’t attack across the first centre back or the cross went into the goalie.

"When you play with someone so quick like Cohen and how fast he attacks, once we break that line and once we give him the ball he wants to go. Now players are starting to understand that as he played at left back a lot of the time and finds himself in different situations now where he’s got different decisions to make and he’s been outstanding for us. He’s stepping up and we need to keep going with that and the other players need to start understanding what type of crosses he puts in, how he attacks so fast, so we need to get people in the box.”