Macey believes competition to be Luton's number one will bring out the best in him

Town keeper Matt Macey anticipates that the battle for the number one jersey at Kenilworth Road this season will only help to get the best out of him.

The 27-year-old former Arsenal and Plymouth stopper signed from Scottish Premier League side Hibernian this summer, Luton shelling out an undisclosed fee to secure his services.

Just 10 days later and Nottingham Forest keeper Ethan Horvath also arrived on a season-long loan, with the pair expected to fight it out to be first choice keeper in the Championship, with Harry Isted as number three while James Shea recovers from his serious knee injury.

It’s a situation that Macey always understood would happen, and believes it is something that will enable him to thrive, as he said: “It was made clear before I came to the club and when I’ve come to the club, it’s going to be a battle.

“I knew at Championship level at a club the size of Luton, you’re not just going to have a number one and number two, it’s going to be a battle.

“I think I’ve always felt I’ve played my best when I’ve had proper competition, so I’m enjoying it, enjoying the battle, Ethan’s been doing well, and we’ll see.

“It’s a great group, Jameo is there watching sometimes, but I’ve really enjoyed working with Harry and Ethan so far.

“We’ve got a good group, we push each other.

"It’s competitive all the way through the three of us, it’s important and you can be playing or you can be in the stands, it’s only good for the club really.”

With Horvath looking to represent his country at the World Cup in Qatar later this year, he will be desperate to get the nod from boss Nathan Jones and ensure he makes USA head coach Gregg Berhalter’s final squad for the tournament.

Macey has his personal goals too though, continuing: “He’s got his own ambitions for the World Cup, I’ve got my ambitions, Harry’s got his ambitions, so everyone’s fighting to play.

“They’ve got their other reasons, and it’s competition which is only the best thing for the club in the long run.”

The stopper gave his own claims a further shot in the arm with an excellent performance at Peterborough United on Wednesday night, with some impressive saves as Town ran out 2-0 winners.

He did well to get down and parry Kwame Poku’s long range drive away from danger in the first half, also making himself big to deny Joel Randall too.

After the break, he kept out another close range effort, before his best stop of the evening, thrusting out a strong left hand as Sammie Szmodics broke clear of Luton’s defence.

On his performance, he continued: “I’m always happy with a clean sheet, no matter what, a few saves makes it better.

“It’s always nice to make a few saves, but at the end of the day, just getting minutes under the belt, especially at a new team and getting more comfortable with the boys in front and things like that, that’s what’s important for me in pre-season.

“I thought he (Szmodics) was offside, I don’t know really what happened, there might have been someone playing him on.

“In my head he was miles offside, but he wasn’t.

"I had to make a save, that’s my job and I’m happy with that.”

First team coach Alan Sheehan knows that the additions of both Macey and Horvath mean Town are well covered in the goalkeeper position after struggling last term when they were forced to use six players between the posts.

He said: “There’s great competition in that area with Ethan and Matt Macey and Harry Isted.

“You’ve got three really, really capable goalkeepers fighting for one spot, compared to where we were at the end of last season with Sheasy going down and Jed (Steer) going down.

“We’re in such a strong position right now in the goalkeeping area.”

Now starting his second spell with the Hatters after a loan move from Arsenal back in 2017, Macey is settling in well to life as a permanent Luton player, adding: “It’s really good.

"Like I said when I came, all the good people are here from before, they’re just two divisions higher up which is great.

"The culture, the group of players here, it’s predominantly a different group of players, but they've still got the same values, the same type of player and the same qualities really.”