Kaminski accepts criticism over Luton's displays as he urges Town to 'raise their standards'

Hatters keeper Thomas Kaminski has accepted the criticism surrounding his side’s displays this season as he urged Luton to ‘raise their standards’ in order to pick up a much-needed result at home to Stoke City tonight.

The 32-year-old saw his side held to a 1-1 draw by Swansea City at the weekend, as although they stretched their unbeaten run at Kenilworth Road to four matches, the point, coupled with wins for QPR and Portsmouth, pushed Town closer to the drop zone. A victory over the Potters this evening would be a much-needed confidence boost ahead of Luton’s festive period which sees the Hatters face three of their next four games away from home, where they have struggled massively recently, suffering six straight losses.

With that in mind, then reflecting on Saturday's match that had come after heavy defeats to both Leeds United and Norwich City on the road, Kaminski said: “It wasn’t our very best game obviously, tough conditions as well but I don’t want to blame that. After two tough away games, to find our form again and our feel again was, yes. At the end of the game you’re disappointed to come away with one point as you’re leading 1-0 but we have to pick ourselves up and try and give a performance.

“Whenever you concede it’s disappointing and it’s not nice as a team. We need to raise our standards, that’s for sure. It’s going to be a massive game (against Stoke), every game for us is a massive game. At home we feel a bit more confident and we feel like the support is there all the time, at home we feel like we can pick up points.”

Kaminski himself was a huge reason behind Town picking up something from the game, as he faced 10 shots on target, making some terrific saves, starting as he meant to go on by changing direction to prevent Liam Cullen’s effort from range that deflected off team-mate Zan Vipotnik from going in. He also parried away Josh Tymon’s blast in the opening 45 minutes, while after the break, reserved his best when flying full length to his left to tip Goncalo Franco’s curler behind.

Late on, the former Blackburn Rovers stopper also used his legs well to prevent Florian Bianchini from winning it, as on whether it was his best display this term, he continued: “Okay, maybe the amount of saves, yes, but I think I’ve played okay games this season, like everyone it’s been tough games as well. It gives you a boost to start the game well (saving from Cullen), especially in these conditions where it’s not always easy, but I’m happy I could help the team. It was a good save (from Franco), you want to help the team as much as you can and that’s by me performing and trying to pick up points.”

Even if Town can triumph this evening, it has still been a miserable campaign for anyone of a Luton persuasion, who have witnessed 10 defeats from 19 games, something that wasn’t on the cards when dropping back into the second tier after giving some of the best teams in the country a serious run for their money last term.

It has led to manager Rob Edwards and his players coming under real pressure from supporters, with the boss’s future constantly scrutinised from all corners, with many feeling he would leave after the 5-1 loss at Middlesbrough recently. Summing up their efforts to date, Kaminski added: “It’s very frustrating, but we have to look at ourselves, we have to do it.

"Everyone who’s criticising or talking about us, they have every right to criticise and we can only agree with that, so it’s up to us to make some performances and play as good as we can. It’s always dangerous to say in football where we should be or where we deserve to be, but ultimately if you don’t do your job or if you don’t perform well, I don’t think you can look up to the table, and by not doing our job I mean the performances aren’t there yet.

“We are trying to find a solution, but if we knew why we could solve it straight away. Sometimes it’s a bit of momentum, a bit of luck that we need and how do you get that? You put your head down, work hard and try to change the situation and look at yourself and say these I should do better or this I should do more. That's the only way forward in my opinion.”