Money admires effort of Town players

TOWN boss Richard Money heaped praise on his players despite Luton being held to a 0-0 draw by Cambridge United in midweek, writes Mike Simmonds.

Hatters had been in action two days earlier at Mansfield Town and, although he made five changes to the team, Money felt it was an exhausting effort from his squad.

He said: “I think you’ve got to have a lot of admiration for the players.

“It’s impossible for me to explain to people who’ve never played football, with respect, what a monumental effort that was. To play 90 minutes in that fierce competitive environment having played 48 hours ago and when we’ve played Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday.

“I just can’t explain to people how hard the players have dug in to come off with a result and I’m full of admiration for them.”

Although both sides hit the bar in the first half, it was in the second period where the game really opened up as there were chances at either end.

Money continued: “We wanted to come here and win. We’ve been the width of the crossbar and a few saves away from winning the game.

“They fought for everything tigerishly with their lives, were very direct, ugly if you want. But we stood up to it and at times moved the ball around pretty well, created opportunities, we just couldn’t take one.”

Hatters failed to hit the target once more on their travels, making it just three goals in their last seven away games. Money said: “We’ll just keep putting the right players on the pitch and I’ve got no doubts in my mind that the goals will come.”

The Luton boss also criticised referee Mark Heywood for a number of decisions during the match, saying: “When it (Zdenek Kroca’s header) comes back off the crossbar, there’s a clear foul, it’s GBH.

“Later, (David) Partridge, I think it’s Partridge has punched Claude (Gnakpa). The referee knows he’s punched him, fourth official knows he’s punched him, he did nothing about it.

“So we’ve had to stand up to quite a bit of intimidation and thought the referee didn’t give us any help whatsoever, no protection at all.

“He allowed them to attempt to bully us, but we stood up to it.”

The result saw Hatters slip 11 points behind leaders Crawley Town, who host AFC Wimbledon this Friday.

When asked about fans wanting the league title, Money added: “So do we. Nothing changes, 12 games to go, two more points to catch up.

“We’ve just got to keep going. We want to finish first.”