Ex-Bluebirds defender highlights the importance of Luton digging out Cardiff victory

Defender Mark McGuinness knew just how important it was for Luton to pick up a crucial three points on home soil against Cardiff City on Wednesday evening.

The Hatters went into the game against their in-form opponents with just one victory from their last seven matches, having let a 2-0 lead slip away to lose 3-2 against Coventry recently and only securing one victory from their last four on home soil. However, Jacob Brown’s 57th minute header from Alfie Doughty’s corner was enough for Rob Edwards’ team to triumph, as they leapfrogged their visitors to climb out of the bottom three and move up to 19th in the table.

Discussing the significance of the result, McGuinness said: “I think it’s really important for us. We’ve had some good performances at home, but maybe not got the results, so it was important for everyone to feel like we can get performances and results here. We’ve been playing well here, it’s a place where we feel like the crowd gets with us and teams coming here feel intimidated, so we want to keep that.

"It’s really important moving forward in the season, so it was a really good test. You don’t quite get what you deserve in football sometimes, we know that, we’ve been unlucky in some games and also we know that we can improve, but today was a really good performance and three points.”

Although the Hatters players will have been well drilled in just what to expect from their opponents, no-one had known what they were coming up more than McGuinness, who actually began the season in Wales himself. Ending his three year stint with the Bluebirds to move to Bedfordshire for a club record fee in August, he found himself going up against old team-mates Callum Robinson and then Yakou Meite in the second period, handling them well to secure a third clean sheet in his 12 appearances so far.

Ahead of the game, boss Rob Edwards had mentioned the defender might face some ‘extra heat’ during the contest, but McGuinness didn’t feel that was the case, continuing: “No, it’s game face on when that whistle goes and chat with the boys afterwards, but during the game, I’ve got a job to do. It’s not weird, it’s probably an advantage. I know what these guys are like, so I can use that in the game.”

One aspect that was a slight frustration to McGuinness was that Town couldn’t go and get a second goal to ensure it was easier sailing in the final minutes, even though Luton defended in a manner that the Bluebirds barely sent anything of note at Thomas Kaminski’s goal apart from two rash efforts from range during the closing stages. He continued: “I think that’s the next step for us now.

"The game can be in the balance at one-nil, I feel like we’ve got the quality and just being that bit more ruthless to put the games to bed, two, three-nil, and then everyone can be a bit more comfortable watching. It was a tight game throughout, it was just important for us to stay switched on and focused and lock up at the back. We felt comfortable, I thought Teden (Mengi) and Amari’i (Bell) did really well alongside me and we looked really strong.”

The fact that McGuinness was alongside both Mengi and Bell was a rare game in which he was flanked by two out and out centre halves, a luxury since his time with Luton as he has often been lining up with wingbacks plugging gaps in the back three, Daiki Hashioka and Alfie Doughty performing the roles in the 3-0 victory over Watford recently.

With Tom Holmes also back on the bench, it means that only Reece Burke, Mads Andersen and Reuell Walters are absent, and on partnering two players who were deployed in their natural positions, plus getting back to a nearly full fit squad once more, McGuinness added: “They’re all experienced boys and I'm here to help and to try and be that leader in the group as well. It’s something I would like to take responsibility for, but as I said the back five today was really strong and it gives a great platform for everyone in front.

“Going forward it’s nice to have everyone back, a full squad. There’s going to be rotation throughout the season, it’s three games a week probably after the international break, going up until January, so it’s important everyone keeps fit and we have that big squad. It’s important that everyone now, it’s hard for me to say stay fit, as it’s hard, it’s a relentless league, but it’s important that everyone knows the roles and everyone can jump in and out of the squad. There will be rotation and it’s important that everyone is on the same page and anyone coming in can get the job done.”