Hatters boss challenges Luton players to prove they are 'serious' over promotion aims

Luton boss Jack Wilshere has challenged his players to prove they are ‘serious’ about winning promotion from League One this season by putting an end to their miserable away form this evening.

The Hatters started to look like they had every chance of honing in on the play-offs, with an automatic berth possibly still in contention, following a run of three wins from four over recently, beating Wycombe Wanderers, Leyton Orient and Stevenage, although all of those matches came on home soil.

A 2-2 draw with second-placed Lincoln City, also at Kenilworth Road, kept their opponents in check, just, but Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Plymouth Argyle realistically ended any slim hopes that even the most optimistic Town supporters would have had of catching the title-challenging Imps who are now 13 points clear, with table-topper Cardiff even further away.

It means that the Hatters’ one hope of going up this term is by finishing inside the top six, although that in itself isn’t a certainty by any means, with Bolton, Bradford and Stockport, in third, fourth and fifth, all seven points away, with Huddersfield in sixth, now three points above Luton.

Town’s inability to get themselves above the dotted line is down to their results outside of Bedfordshire, as after winning 3-0 at Stockport in early November, have now taken just a single point from their next five games, losing to Barnsley, Reading, Exeter and Plymouth. They are now back on the road again this evening when heading to a Huddersfield side who are under new management in Liam Manning now, the ex-Norwich and Bristol City chief picking up a win on his first game in charge when beating Bradford City 1-0 on Saturday.

With that in mind, Wilshere knows any dreams of being back in the Championship next term can only become a reality if their form on the road improves, as he stated: “I said that to the players, if we’re serious about promotion and we are, we talk about it and we feel like we can achieve it, but we can’t then go and lose a game away from home time and time again.

"We have to pick up results, fight for our lives for a point or take a point at certain moments. I think about the Exeter game, we probably didn’t do enough to win the game, but didn’t do enough to lose the game. We have to take the point and today (Saturday) it felt like we did enough to get a point, but we missed those moments, so we have to find something different away from home and quickly.”

Although Town were in Devon just a few days ago and now have to make another lengthy trip to west Yorkshire and face a Terriers side who were another tipped for promotion this term when the campaign began, on the schedule facing them, Wilshere continued: “It’s not an excuse, we had that earlier in the season. I know it was Exeter and Doncaster and Doncaster was called off, which probably suited us at the time, but we’ve had a week with no game.

"We’ve had five, six days on the training pitch, so we managed a lot of the players for what we had coming up as we wanted to prioritise freshness and we need to go there and deliver another physical performance. We need to fight for every moment, they (Huddersfield) won today, they’ve got a new manager, they’ll be full of confidence, it will be a tough game for us, but we have to recover and go again.”

Having been cheered on by 790 supporters against the Pilgrims, those fans putting a wonderful effort in to head to Home Park for a 12.30pm kick-off, Town will no doubt have another fine away attendance this evening at the Accu Stadium, as on those who made the journey, Wilshere added: “They were outstanding. I couldn’t believe how many we had here actually and we’re thankful for that and the players definitely are as well.

"I genuinely do believe that gives them a little bit extra to keep pushing and then the fans could see at the end the effort the players put in, the chances we created. They’ll be frustrated that we couldn’t take anything out of the game, the same as I am, the same as the players are, but we’re grateful for their support.”