Buckle believes Hatters have put Alfreton horror show behind them

Buckle will welcome back striking trio Jon Shaw, Scott Rendell and top-scorer Stuart Fleetwood for The Dragon’s visit to Kenilworth Road after their absence from the eleven that started the lacklastre 3-0 reverse at the Impact Arena.

And the former Torquay manager believes that his returning strike force will see a much improved Hatters against the Welsh side.

He said: “We started work on Sunday morning and had a positive day. We were honest with each other after the game, we’ve moved on now and definitely put it to bed.

“Hopefully I’ll have everybody to choose from, last week was a problem, this week with Jon Shaw coming back and Fleetwood and Rendell fit it gives us a lot more options.

“Jon’s a selfless player he’s made goals for us and he can score goals as well, we’re really happy to have him back. I think last week we missed both Rendell and Shaw’s presence which also makes Fleetwood and Gray different players.

“It’s going to be a tight league, already we’ve seen different leaders at the top, I’m just really keen to get our best eleven on the pitch that’s what every manager wants.

“We’ve had to change our back four and lots of other stuff and it’s not been ideal at all.”

Both Rendell and Fleetwood missed out on a starting role during the Hatters last outing after picking up knocks, but Shaw, who missed a chunk of pre-season through injury, has been out for three games after picking up a three match ban for his role in a ruckus during the 1-0 defeat to Afc Telford.

But despite seeing a relatively small amount of action in a town shirt since his summer signing from Gatehead, Buckle believes that the 6ft 1in striker is champing at the bit to return to the first team.

He said: “Matches are the key to getting you fit, I wouldn’t want to lose any of my players for three games but Jon’s trained hard, I think the training at the club helps anyone anyway let alone if you’re out for three games

“Jon’s a fit boy he’s a good proffessional and he he’s really raring to go.”

When asked whether he believes Saturday’s opponents Wrexham, who currently sit in third place just a point above the Hatters, are genuine title contenders, Buckle added: “Without a shadow of a doubt, of course they are. They finished 19 points above us last year, they’re a very good side, they’re in good form so it’s a tough game but they’re all very tough games for different reasons as we found last week and they’ll know how hard it’ll be for them from coming to us in the play-offs last season.

“When we’re on our game and we’ve got everybody running then we’re more than a match for anyone.

“It’s a big game for both clubs, the players are fully aware of the size of the game and we look forward to playing at Kenilworth Road because the last two outings have been great.”

And he hopes that the players will produce a similar performance to that which saw the Town run out comfortable 2-0 winners the last time the two sides met in last season’s play-off semi final first leg back in May.

He said: “It was some night, I think both teams have moved on both in personnel on and off the field but both are playing similar shapes and similar attacking football, they always come for the win and that suited us last time as it was a very open game and we could easily have gone four or five up.”

Despite losing two of their opening eight games against teams where they started as overwhelming favourites to win, Buckle is proud of the way his side have kicked off the season and with other much fancied teams dropping points still believes that the league is there for the taking.

“We still have to concentrate on ourselves,” he said.

“I’ve seen loads of stuff I really like from the team this season and we’ve put a lot of points on the board, I don’t think I’m wrong in saying it’s the best start Luton have made in the first eight games at this level and we’re proud of that, we put those stats across to the players on Monday.

“I’m sure I’m right in saying that Crawley and Fleetwood from their first eight games didn’t have the return that we’ve had so we musn’t get too down on a defeat.

“I said before when we lost at home that I have total faith in the players and it’s a long long season where you have to stick together through the ups and the downs.

“The players have taken on board what we’ve said and we’re looking forward to this game.”