Hatters boss urges Town to keep on chasing the consistency he is craving

Luton manager Matt Bloomfield has urged his side to continue chasing the kind of consistency that he is craving during their final seven games of the Championship season.

The Hatters are still very much one of the favourites for the drop this term, as they go into today’s lunch-time kick-off with promotion chasing Leeds United still three points adrift of safety, knowing a win would only move them up to third bottom due to their woeful goal difference. However, Bloomfield has seen shoots of optimism growing in recent weeks, with Town on a better run of form than their opponents in the last five matches, picking up three wins and a draw, including ending a horrific run of away results that saw them go six months without a victory on the road.

On why he thinks Town are finally starting to show some much-needed signs of life in the battle to stay up, Bloomfield said: “Maybe we can see the target ahead of us so we’ve got something to chase which is always something you can look at, and that is tangible. We’ve got targets ahead of us which we’re chasing. I think also we’ve been in the building two and a half months now and it’s not always easy to click your fingers and change something.

"We’ve been speaking over the last few weeks about first clean sheet, then the first win away from home, then the first two wins away from home in the same calendar year. There’s been lots of things that we’ve had to work on and try and go after, so it’s been lovely to tick those things off and it’s just about chasing more. The goals against column, we want that to continue, we’ve had to work extremely hard on the shape and structure of the group.

"We’ve played two different formations and it doesn’t come overnight, but we feel like we’ve been fairly consistent with that, and we’re going to have to be over the next four weeks, seven games. We have to be really consistent and relentless with our work. We work on it a lot and it’s important that everything’s clear for the boys to action on a Saturday. I feel like it’s becoming clearer and we hope that to be the case.

"We have to use the momentum and the belief and the spirit and the confidence. We’ve had a number of things, Browny’s (Jacob Brown) spoken about how he feels comfortable with the group, we’ve had other players speaking openly and honestly and that team spirit and camaraderie is crucial. So we have to keep that but keep our feet firmly on the ground as we’ve done nothing yet. We’ve still got lots to do in the next four weeks, but there is absolute belief that we can go and do it.”

Although Bloomfield didn’t enjoy the instant kind of manager bounce that pretty much every other side in the Championship has had this term, taking eight games to secure his first victory, he did feel that even though results on the pitch weren’t showing it, there had still been plenty to be positive about, as he continued: “It was a gradual thing. I felt it against Sheffield United and Plymouth, I thought we played really well but only picked up one point and it’s hard when you’re not winning games to believe that the momentum is with you, but I did, I believed we were heading in the right direction.

"Even Burnley, I felt the first 20 minutes we were so good out of possession and even with 10 men I felt the lads really dug in and off the back of a 4-0 defeat we took some positives from that, as hard as it was to on that day. Then you turn it around in three days and go to Cardiff because of the momentum that you’re building and the belief and confidence that you’re building, and I just think it’s hard to quantify that in sport, but we can all feel it.

"Irrespective of the result (against Leeds) we believe we can win the game, but the momentum is with us so we have to cherish it, love it and keep working on it because you don’t want it to go the other way either. You don't always have it in sport, so we feel like we’ve got a bit of momentum and it’s important for us to use that, the psychology of the game.

"I could feel it coming maybe before the results came. I really believed in what we were doing, I believed in how the lads were playing, I believed that the Sheffield United game we got clapped off by our supporters, they could see it. The Middlesbrough game was a really good performance even though we didn’t win, so I feel like it’s been building for a little while and we have to harness it and cherish it and run with it because the league is relentless and we have to be relentless with it for the next four weeks.”

Unfortunately for Luton, their improved return has coincided with a number of other clubs at the bottom also putting points on the board, Derby County climbing above the dotted line when beating Preston North End 2-0 on Wednesday evening, a result that dropped Cardiff City into the bottom three. With plenty of twists and turns to come in what promises to be a thrilling end of season at the bottom, Bloomfield added: “Who knows what’s going to happen? All we can do is try and attack each game that’s in front of us.

"We can’t worry about what’s down the road, we’ve just got to get on with Saturday and try to execute that the best we possibly can. That’s what our focus has been on since we’ve come in, day by day, build it week by week and we’ve given ourselves a little bit of momentum, some confidence, some belief. The noise around the training ground and the spirit in training has been fantastic this week. The boys have worked very hard and now it’s about bringing that out and making sure that come Saturday we’re ready to go.”