Luton chief wants Town to put down an early marker in play-off bid

Luton boss Jack Wilshere wants his side to put an early marker down in the race for the League One play-offs when they entertain fellow top six chasers Stockport County this afternoon.

The Hatters go into the game sitting in 11th place, some four points adrift of the dotted line, while the other Hatters find themselves in fifth, but just two points clear of the chasing pack. With the game kicking off at 12.30pm, then victory for Town would see them rise to eighth, albeit temporarily, and close the gap on Reading, who occupy the last spot, and visit Stevenage, who would drop to ninth if Luton triumph, to a mere point.

With the result being confirmed before the other teams get going themselves at 3pm, Wilshere hopes they will begin their fixtures knowing his side have made it three successive victories and are breathing down their neck once more, saying: “I quite like it (early kick-off), I liked with when I was a player, I like it now I’m a coach.

"You wake up, there’s not too much thinking time, you have to focus quickly, we’ll come here in the morning, we’ll have breakfast together, have a meeting here, then go straight to the game and it’s boots on, let’s go. The last game we played as 12.30, we were very good (2-1 victory against Bradford City), so let’s try and use it. Let’s try and use the energy early on and try to be in a position after the game when we’re sat there with the points.”

Anything other than a win could no doubt signal the end of Luton’s bid to extend their campaign once more, as an away success would see Stockport, who have two games in hand over Town, move eight points away with just seven matches left for Wilshere’s side, leaving just one spot realistically to catch depending on other results.

It wasn’t lost on the Town manager, who continued: “They’re above us, and that’s the most important thing for us going into the game. We go game by game, I think we have to at this point of the season. Of course an incentive for us is to get closer to them, a team above us, get closer to where they are. They’re in the play-offs, we want to be in the play-offs, so it’s a game that we will approach knowing in the back of our mind that if we do win, we’ll be closer to them.

“I think every game now kind of feels like that (must-win). Of course when a team’s above you it probably feels like it’s even more important, and we approach every game with that. I know it’s the easy thing to do, but we never go into a game thinking we might not win today. Everything that we’ve said Tuesday is how we’re going to win this game and we’ll try and give the players everything they need and then hopefully they can execute it.

"Both teams have played Saturday, both teams have played Tuesday, so both teams will go into it with a bit of fatigue, with tired bodies. It’s about mentality, switching on mentally, focusing, it’s about committing to every single thing we do and the team that can do that the best will come out with the points.”

The only slight frustration for Wilshere was that Luton have found themselves in the position where games like this appear to be all or nothing, as having won their last two matches to take six points from six, he just wished it was nine from nine, pointing back to the home clash with Reading beforehand, the Hatters 2-1 up with 10 minutes remaining, only to lose 3-2 and fall further behind in their quest for a play-off berth.

He added: “It’s annoying as I thought we were excellent in that game and you start to think, if we hold on then and pick up the points we’d be even closer, but that’s the reality. I’ve said a lot about accepting and committing to whatever the challenge is. We had to find a way over the last two games, but we found a way, so we’re happy about that and we keep going game by game now.

“Probably over the last two games, there’s been times this season where we’ve played better and lost, so that is important. Finding a way and learning how to not play so well or not be as consistent as we want, but still win the game is an important skill that if you want to be successful in any team you have to have that.

"You have to find ways when it’s not quite going your way. We’d much prefer and hopefully we can start building on the results by having better performances and being more consistent, but we know at this stage of the season, or at any point really, it’s important to pick up points, especially given the context of how close it is in the league. We’re happy about that and that’s a strength we’ll need and look to develop.”