Luton forward Nordas eager to show his mean streak and cause defenders 'some trouble'

Luton forward Lasse Nordas is determined to give League One defenders a ‘hard time’ as he looks to display the kind of aggressive nature that manager Jack Wilshere has demanded of him.

The 23-year-old earned his first start since Wilshere took over during last night’s Vertu Trophy second round clash against Exeter City, showcasing just what he can bring to a Hatters team struggling for goals from their forwards when scoring twice in the first half. Having been left out of the last six match-day squads, the Town chief revealed afterwards that although Nordas is one of the ‘nicest men’ he has ever met, he needs a mean streak to be shown by the forward on a regular basis if he is to be considered for the first team.

It’s something that the former Norwegian U21 international has been made aware of and wants to bring to the table, as speaking about his brace and spell out of the side, he said: “Yes, he has (told me). I don’t know if it’s a complement or not that I’m a nice guy, but I know I am. Obviously in football and in this league and this country you can’t be too nice, but still I will always play my game and do what I’m good at. I did that today and hopefully the coaches see and if not I’m at least happy with what I do myself.

“It’s been kind of tough. I just try to focus on what I can focus on and it’s not always easy, but I have the facilities to work hard, I have good coaches and they’ve been helping me a lot even though I haven’t been in the squad. They’ve always been there for me when I’m doing extra and I have made sure that I’ve been working harder than everyone else. I feel like defenders are struggling dealing with me, they will whenever I play. I make sure they have some trouble even though I probably won’t do everything right all of the time, I’ll make sure they have a hard time.”

He certainly did that against a Grecians side last night, as apart from scoring twice, Nordas also set up Shayden Morris’s goal as well, unleashing five shots of his own, with three on target and having seven touches in the opposition box. Part of a team that contained 11 changes, he completed 13 of his 19 passes, winning four from his nine aerial duels, and two from three ground duels as well. Discussing getting the opportunity to play, it was something the forward had clearly been relishing, as on having such speedy wingers either side of him, he continued: “It’s nice, a first start for the new manager, it’s been a while.

"I played a few 21s games, but obviously it’s different when you get to play and I was very excited because I didn’t know how I felt, how my confidence was, but I’ve been working hard to grab the opportunity. It came and I did it. When I wasn't in the squad for Saturday, it was kind of just a long build-up for this game as I've been having a lot of sessions working for this game.

"It’s a long time since I’ve had that feeling, playing a game, just feeling confident. The relationships felt so good, the individual bits were good, the one v ones from the wingers, Zack (Nelson), everyone. Me scoring my opportunities, so a very good day for the team and 11 changes. We’ve been working hard and not playing too much none of us, so I feel like it’s very impressive that we can go and perform like that. It’s pretty easy to know what’s happening, at least when they (Town’s wingers) have a day like this.

"They go down the sides and just have to cross and they did that very well. They helped me a lot and the whole team was very good, from the back, winning the ball high, not giving them anything. It’s impressive from all 11, and the bench, the young guys as well. The coaches are happy with that (assist). They talked about that from the throw-ins, for me to have half and half, the two centre halves. I don’t know what happened, but they played it straight to my feet, I played in Shayden and it was a good finish as well.”

Nordas’s first goal came after just 13 minutes when he showed his aerial ability at the back post, rising early to power a downward header from Milli Alli’s cross beyond keeper Jack Bycroft and into the net. He then had his second before the interval, getting two bites at Joe Johnson’s free kick, the second he finished with real precision into the bottom corner. On both of his strikes, he said: “We’ve been talking about it and I’ve been working a little bit with my headers so that was nice. When you get that much time in the 18-yard box, it’s just terrible defending, I got told to be ruthless, so there you go.”

He might have had a hat-trick as well, robbing an Exeter defender on half-way to race goalwards, only to see City substitute Sil Swinkels get back in the nick of time to make an important sliding tackle. Not scoring a treble wasn’t going to ruin his evening though, as Nordas added: “It felt like pretty good defending. I haven’t seen it again, I probably was a bit too slow, but it felt like I had two guys on me from either side. I’ll go home, watch it again, see what I can do differently. Obviously a hat-trick would always be nice, but I’m happy. I had fun playing and I scored some goals.”