Luton defender insists QPR trip is a 'massive opportunity' for Town to finally end barren run
Centre half in confident mood for Loftus Road match
Defender Tom Holmes insists that tonight’s trip to QPR is being viewed by Luton’s players as a huge opportunity to finally end their horrific run of results away from Kenilworth Road.
The Hatters head to West London having lost their last nine matches on the road, taking just four points from a possible 36 outside of Bedfordshire so far this term, which has seen the team now involved into a battle to stay up and not the challenge for promotion they had been targeting back in August. Saturday’s matches means Town are now just two points above the bottom three, sitting in 20th place, which could have been worse only for Portsmouth’s 1-0 defeat at Sunderland yesterday.
One plus for manager Rob Edward ahead of their clash at Loftus Road is that he could have a number of players back, with Alfie Doughty in training following ankle ligament damage and new signing Lamine Fanne also available. With duo Liam Walsh and Joe Johnson both free from suspension too, then discussing the contest and the reinforcements, a confident Holmes said: “We really need to nail away and QPR is a massive opportunity for us to do that. It’s been busy, it’s been full on, but it’s a good chance to attack.
"We know that we’ll definitely have bodies back, ready to go and that will be a big one. We need everyone to pull together and there’ll be a freshness to us, especially after these block of games coming thick and fast. There’ll be a good chance to get everyone out there competing to really make sure we put in the best show. I’ve always said we just need one result and then you break that curse. I really thought Swansea (2-1 loss) was going to be that. Obviously we went down to 10 men and it was a slightly different performance. We defended the box well and then it was just a lapse of concentration.”
On how Luton’s players can put their recent horrors on the road out of their mind, Holmes continued: "I think it’s taking any positive that you can get and looking at performance-wise here (Kenilworth Road), you look at every game that we've played and we've been in them. We’ve been suffocating teams and we’ve been in people’s faces. It’s just going back to what you can do as players and what gets you ticking, the positives you can take from things, that would be my message to people.”
Although the Hatters have been keeping their heads above water with a decent run on their own patch, winning four out of six and unbeaten since October 23, that was punctured by the 1-0 loss to Norwich on New Year’s Day. In their defence, the hosts had been the better team too, Tahith Chong striking the underside of the bar in the second period and looking like the side with their tails up until switching off at the back, Marcelino Nunez allowed to shoot from 20 yards and beat Thomas Kaminski with 17 minutes remaining.
Sub Cauley Woodrow was also denied by the woodwork in stoppage time as Holmes felt his side deserved more, saying: “I think especially second half we gave it everything we had. It didn’t quite fall for us, we hit the woodwork a couple of times, really suffocated them, but it wasn’t to be. That was the message from the management, performance, it was clear for everyone to see that it was there.
"The last few games here we’ve had last minute winners and it really felt like we were pushing for that. The performance was there, but sometimes it doesn’t go your way. We executed the gameplan, we knew at half-time that we would be strong in the second half and really get momentum. We did that, the goal went in and it was a bit of a blow to take. We’ve got to keep believing in what we do at home though as that was our first loss since October here.”
There were positive to takes for Holmes on a personal level though, as he came through a busy festive period unscathed, playing every minute. Having taken longer than he hoped to get his Luton career up and running, with the ex-Reading centre half now starting the last seven successive matches, he is finally becoming a first choice for Edwards in Town's back three.
On his extended run in the side, Holmes added: "I’ve had a lot of experience before playing in the Champ, so I knew when I came that I had enough to play. Fortunately I’ve had an opportunity and I’d like to think that people can see what I can bring to the team in this run of games. I back myself and I just need to keep applying myself.”