Bree believes his first professional goal is coming

James Bree is felled in the area for Town's penalty on Tuesday night

Defender looking to make the most of his free-kick duties

Hatters defender James Bree believes he is closer than ever to netting his first goal in professional football.

The 22-year-old full back has played almost 150 games already in his career to date, but is yet to hit the net.

He almost managed the landmark against QPR on Tuesday night, latching on to Luke Berry's delightful dink over the defence to be faced with visiting keeper Joe Lumley.

However, just he was about to shoot, Bree was upended by Ryan Manning, leaving James Collins to do the business from the penalty spot.

Bree said: "I keep saying before the game, I keep texting my mates saying 'I’m going to score a free kick tonight,' especially now that I’ve been put on set-pieces recently.

"I believe in my delivery and I think it’s just getting forward and getting into those positions.

"I’d just pulled my right foot back, it was going in, I could tell and I just got touched, I couldn’t do anything about it.

"I had to go down and I think it was a stonewall pen."

Bree would love that first goal to come at the KCOM Stadium this afternoon in what is in absolutely crucial game in Town's bid to stay in the Championship.

With the hosts going into the match on the back of an 8-0 hammering at the hands of Wigan Athletic in midweek, Bree, who was part of the Luton side thumped 7-0 by Brentford back in November, knows they will be looking for a reaction.

He continued: "We had the Brentford one earlier in the season, so I think in this league, anything can happen on any given day.

"It’s tough for them, they'll be looking to bounce back and I’m sure there’ll be really focused on Saturday, but we know what we’ve got to do and it’s on us and not them.

“We know what we’ve got to do, we know we can do it, it’s just getting it done."

On the belief within Town's squad that they can stay up, Bree added: "One thousand per cent.

"We're a bit downhearted that we didn’t get the win (against QPR), but everyone knows that Saturday is a big one, a big six pointer.

"I think everyone’s heads are back up, we know what we’ve got to and we’re going to do it."