Hatters captain urges Town to stay strong

LUTON Town skipper George Pilkington has warned his side to be on their mettle when they visit Blue Square Bet Premier strugglers Hayes & Yeading on Tuesday night, writes Mike Simmonds.

Hatters were held to a 1-1 draw by Hayes at Kenilworth Road earlier in the season and although they will be firm favourites to record a win, Pilkington knows the hosts will be up for the test.

He said: “It’s a very tough game. We certainly know that being Luton Town, every team will raise their game against us and we found last season, you take your foot off the pedal one little bit and you’ll get turned over.

“We’re in good place at the minute confidence wise and performance wise, so we must make sure we keep doing that.”

Town boss Richard Money has intimated he will name the same squad that defeated Rushden & Diamonds 3-0 on Saturday, which means winger Claude Gnakpa should be fit after being in the wars during the weekend’s win.

Speaking after the game, the Frenchman said: “I’m hoping to see the physio but hopefully I’ll be available as I received two kicks, one in the first half and one when I scored.

“The medical staff here are fantastic. I saw Simon the physio straight after the game and I’m sure we’ll do everything to make myself fit for the game.”

Hatters are now playing Saturday and midweek games for the foreseeable future, but Gnakpa isn’t worried by the mountain of matches, as he would much rather that than be stuck on the training ground.

He added: “I prefer to play games because in training it’s not the same, it’s not the same intensity. We do have a good intensity, but in the game there is more pressure. We need these games to close the gap too, so I would say to all the players who haven’t been involved, we might have an injury or suspension and we will need them, their chance will come.

“We won 3-2 at Hayes last year, it was quite comfortable but they were a team with a lot of energy so it was quite tough in the end.”