Hatters defender wants Luton to 'push on' after international break

Defender Reece Burke is confident that Luton can push on when the Championship season resumes after the international break.

The Hatters made it seven points from their opening five matches of the season after a goalless draw with former Premier League side Sheffield United on Saturday.

Although it sees Nathan Jones’ side sitting 12th in the table, Burke believes they can definitely improve on that, as he said: “The first part for us is decent but we know it could be better.

“We want to push on, we have targets which we want to achieve.

“We know we could have done a little bit better, i.e. from last week (5-0 defeat against Birmingham).

“That shouldn’t have happened, but we’ve had some good results this month and then it’s about the international break, going away, recovering well, doing the right things and ready to get back going.”

Burke made his debut for the Hatters on Saturday partnering Kal Naismith in the centre of defence, with Tom Lockyer on the bench after recovering from injury, while club captain Sonny Bradley could also make a long-awaited return from Covid when the season starts up again.

Although that means Burke will have a real battle on his hands to stay in the side, it’s something he will relish, saying: “That’s what makes this team really good, fighting for places and it pushes everybody on.

“You know you need to put your foot down and do the best you can to get into the team, so if there’s competition, I think everyone strives on it and gets better.”

The centre half also wants his side to take their second half performance into future outings as well, as he felt the Hatters really began to really assert themselves on their former top flight opponents once they came out after the interval.

He continued: “I think the way the gaffer wants us to play, he wants us to go right at it and not give anyone respect in this league.

“I felt like maybe in the first half we could have done a bit better.

"I still felt like we started the game fast and sharp, but second half felt like it was more open as the game went on and there were a few very, very good chances which maybe we should have walked away with the three points.”

Those good chances came the the way of the hosts with Fred Onyedinma having a goal disallowed and firing into the side-netting, while Harry Cornick crashed against the bar, with Naismith also wasting a decent opportunity.

Burke himself might have had a pop himself from 20 yards with time running out after winning the ball back deep in Blades territory, but opted against going for a debut winner, as he added: “I was thinking about it, but if it went row Z everybody would be fuming, so I thought the right option was to lay it off to Breesy (James Bree) and try and get in the box.

“At the time I thought he (Onyedinma) was onside as he’s rapid, I've played against him in training.

"But Fred’s been brilliant for us, he’s a problem and he’s only going to get better.

"Maybe he should have scored, but let them do their job and we focus on ours.”