Hatters winger insists Town will 'respect' Rotherham after Millers' relegation

Hatters winger Shayden Morris insists he and his team-mates will show tonight’s opponents Rotherham United the ‘respect’ they deserve despite their recent relegation to League Two.

It looked like the Millers would be in for a season full of promise as they went 13 games unbeaten in all competitions between October 2 and December 2, including a dire goalless draw at Kenilworth Road, to sit 14th in the table, just four points off the play-offs, putting seven past Salford City in a Vertu Trophy contest. However a 3-0 home reverse against Blackpool started an alarming downward trend, United losing eight matches in a row to slide to second from bottom, finally ending that with a 1-1 draw at home to AFC Wimbledon.

They did then show some fight, beating Northampton Town 2-1 and Exeter City 4-0 at St James’ Park on January 31, but then another sequence of one victory in 14 fixtures saw manager Matt Hamshaw relieved of his duties on March 18, ex-Huddersfield and Birmingham boss Lee Clark brought out of the footballing wilderness to sign a short term deal until the end of the season.

He has been unable to mastermind a turnaround, with relegation back to the fourth tier confirmed after a 3-0 defeat at Wigan Athletic a week ago. With their fate sealed, Rotherham did then triumph 2-0 at another side in trouble on Saturday, Leyton Orient, as going up against the Millers, Morris, who was part of a Luton side held to a 2-2 draw at Mansfield on Saturday, said: “You’ve got to respect every opponent in this league. We know they’re down, but they’ve got qualities so we’ll respect them and go there, but we’ve got quality as well, so we’ve got to show that. Sometimes it does fall for you and sometimes it doesn’t, but we’ll just keep working and hopefully put it right on Tuesday.”

For Luton, their aims are still very much at the other end of the table, as after hitting back from 2-0 down to claim a point at the One Call Stadium at the weekend, it meant Town didn’t gain any ground on the top six, with Stevenage also claiming a point, holding leaders Lincoln City to a 2-2 draw themselves.

The Hatters were also leapfrogged by Plymouth Argyle, the Pilgrims triumphing 3-1 at AFC Wimbledon, meaning with three games to go, Luton realistically need to take maximum points to even give themselves an outside chance of finishing above the dotted line. For manager Jack Wilshere, he knows this evening’s hosts will be a dangerous side, particularly as they are playing for pride now, continuing: “We’re at that point where we need to focus on us.

"We have to keep an eye out for other results as well, but we have to make sure that our focus is on us up until Tuesday, recover physically, and go into another fight. They picked up a really good result and sometimes when the pressure is off and there’s nothing to play for, that’s what you can get. We have to make sure we’re doing everything we can so that the players are ready, all of us, the staff, me, the medical staff, to make sure we’re in a position to give another physical performance. We have to take the attacking play as well as a lot of the play we did was outstanding.”

Luton should have really been going into the game just a point off their Hertfordshire rivals, but despite scoring their 18th goal in eight matches, fluffed a number of opportunities at the Stags, none more so than when Davy van den Berg saw his close range effort brilliantly saved by Liam Roberts, who also repelled Morris’s attempt when one-on-one.

Kasey Palmer also had to score in the second period, denied by the keeper with 15 minutes to go, as despite missing those opportunities, Wilshere was pleased with his side’s creativity on the afternoon, adding: “He’s (van den Berg) got to put his foot through it. There were a few chances I’ll look back on, Shayden went through in the first half, one v one, Davy’s opportunity, Kasey’s one. In the second half there were a few set-pieces where we just have to score, have to put it in the net, and the positive is that we are creating chances still and look like a threat every time we go forward.

"We kept the opposition guessing and how many times have we spoken about having variations? We’ve definitely got that now. The most important thing is putting the ball in the net and we couldn’t quite do that at the end. The mentality of the players was outstanding too. I keep talking about how this game demands that and this level definitely demands that.

"We feel like we’ve grown with that a lot and we have to keep building and the mentality in the second half was to keep them under pressure, to keep attacking, with different ways of attacking, different chances created. Ultimately the most important thing was we put one of them away and win the game and we didn't do that, so that’s what the players feel in the dressing room.”