Kioso happy to play wherever he is needed by the Hatters during Championship run-in

Town defender Peter Kioso will happily play wherever he is needed by the Hatters as they look to try and finish in the Championship play-offs this term.

The 22-year-old was recalled to the Luton side in midweek for the 4-0 win over Preston North End after injuries to Sonny Bradley, Gabe Osho, Tom Lockyer and Kal Naismith saw boss Nathan Jones select what was a makeshift defence on the night.

Kioso began on the right of the back three, before once Reece Burke went off on 23 minutes with a hamstring injury, switched to the central role, flanked by James Bree and Dan Potts.

In either position he excelled though, particularly aerially, helping the Hatters keep what was a 16th clean sheet of the campaign.

Kioso said: “You start as right centre back and you get pushed into centre back, but if I’m asked to do a job in a certain place I need to make sure I give 100 per cent for the boys.

“The boys need it and the boys need me.

"I just need to make sure I keep my head down, work as hard as possible and when asked upon, do what I need to do.

“The thing about that group, we have such a great group, I can’t say that enough.

"Anybody who is asked to do a job in a certain place will do a job, I’m sure if you asked some players to play in goal if we didn’t have a goalkeeper, they’d play in goal.

“So it's always just about us being very humble as players and knowing that at the end of the day, the team is the most important thing and you’re doing your job when asked upon.”

Kioso was primed for his first start in almost two months though, as he continued: “I knew, the gaffer always preps us well for games, so I knew before.

"It's just about putting my head down and making sure I put in 100 per cent for the boys and give a solid performance.

"I thought the back five was amazing, even when it changed it was amazing.

"I could go through the whole team, everyone, the boys put in a real shift today and a great result.”

Although not utilised in his favoured role as right wing-back, Kioso knows at the moment it will be tough to break in with James Bree turning in the level of performances he has this term.

He said: “When you have Breesy, Breesy’s in great form and he’s a great player.

"It is quite hard for me to get in there, so right now it’s just about me making sure when I’m asked upon to play right centre back, centre back, even if it’s left centre back, or anywhere, it’s just about making sure I give 100 per cent and doing what I need to do for the boys.”

With Luton having such a congested schedule since early January, today's trip to Hull an 18th game in 64 days, Kioso understands the squad would always start to suffer injury problems, saying: "The boys give 100 per cent every day, so I’m not surprised that we are picking up some injuries, but the best thing about it is we have players who are willing to jump in and do what they need to do when asked upon.

"Our focus now is for Hull on Saturday and make sure get some more points and get a little bit of a rest in for the boys that is in my opinion, much needed.”

The full back returns to the venue he made his debut for the Hatters back in July 2020, when he replaced Martin Cranie for the final moments of the crucial 1-0 win that ensured the Hatters would go on to stay in the Championship against all the odds.

Kioso is now hoping to have more of a role this afternoon, saying: “I came on for half a second, it wasn't too bad, but if the gaffer puts trust in me so I can start again on Saturday, then I can actually play properly this time.

"The most important thing for us is getting more points on the points tally, that’s our full focus for now, getting ready for Saturday.”

With nine games to go and the Hatters sitting in fifth place, Town are definitely able to seriously dream of a top six berth, as Kioso added: “It’s coming to the crunch time now.

"Going to the last nine games of the season, this is where certain teams might start picking up form.

"We just need to make sure we remain doing the things that we’re doing as what we’re doing is working.

"We just need to keep being a hard-working team and stay in and around it and by the end of the season, we need to wait and see what happens, but we’re on the right track.

"We just want to stay concentrated and concentrate on the next game.

"We have Hull on Saturday, that’s what we want to worry about now, we don’t want to be looking too far and getting distracted from where we are now.

"It’s about concentrating and going on to the next game and just pushing forward."