Long wants to keep developing during loan spell at Luton

The 20-year-old full back has made six appearances so far, including his Football League debut, so was more than happy to extend his stint with the club.

He said: “I’m delighted to have that done. I came in and it was a bit mad at the start, fitting in, but the manager and the staff have been great.

“All the lads have been great too and I think I’ve settled in really well. I’ve learned a lot in a short space of time as I’ve had to after being thrown in at the deep end.

“I thought I coped quite well, and the manager and his staff have been telling me little things, so it’s been a good experience so far.

“I feel like I’ve done all right too. You can always do better, you never have a perfect performance, but I think I’ve been steady enough.

“So I’m just looking to play as many games as I have in this loan spell and get us right up the table.”

Long believes that playing games that actually mean something, rather than U21s football, is so much better for his development too.

He continued: “It means so much to the lads, getting up the table, getting into the play-offs. The last few weeks you can see our performances are getting a lot better.

“We are making a move up the table which is good and playing for three points on a Saturday or a Tuesday night is what you want to be doing.”

Long lost his place to Alex Lawless for the 2-0 victory over Barnet as he had been in Lithuania for the Irish U21s Euro Championships qualifier.

After the 3-1 defeat, the defender showed commendable dedication to make it back in time for the game, although was an unused substitute.

He said: “I spoke to the manager, told him my plan and said ‘when would you like me back?’

“He said ‘whenever you can’, so I said ‘I can come back after the Lithuania game if you want’.

“I flew back that morning, went into the manager and he said ‘we might not use you today’, but I was on the bench, so it was still good to be involved in a 2-0 win, although it was a bit mad as well.

“I wanted to give myself every chance just in case as you never know what might happen.

“Someone might get injured, someone might get sick, so I was just there to help the manager in case anything was to happen.”

On what his longer-term plans might be, Long isn’t considering those for the moment, just making a success of his spell in Bedfordshire.

He added: “It’s up until January, so I’m going to focus to January.

“Whatever happens after that you never know, things happen in football all the time.

“I want to train as hard as I can to do everything I can to make the manager pick me and then we’ll see what happens.”