Naismith will rally Luton's players ahead of 'demanding' atmosphere
Town entertain Barnsley this evening
Hatters skipper Kal Naismith will rally his fellow team-mates ahead of what he knows full well will be a ‘demanding’ atmosphere when Town welcome Barnsley to Kenilworth Road this evening.
The Hatters run out in front of their own fans for a league game for the first time since losing to Bradford City just over a month ago, as since then, they have played twice in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy, but more importantly, two league games as well, thrashing Wycombe Wanderers 4-1 at Adams Park in the first one.
They then headed to Stadium MK on Saturday, where 6,000 Town fans also travelled both in hope and expectation, only to suffer a disappointing 2-1 reverse from a game they really ought to have won. Having got themselves back on level terms through Jordan Clark’s first league goal of the season with 20 minutes to go, Luton then found themselves leaving empty-handed, George Johnston giving away the most needless of penalties, Aaron Collins doing the rest from the spot.
It saw Town’s players jeer off after the full time whistle by their angry away contingent, as they will now face their supporters once more on Tuesday night when going up against a Barnsley side who are in the relegation zone, having won just twice in the league this term, and without a success in any of their last eight matches.
Having been at Kenilworth Road for what has been a tough 18 months on the field, Naismith has seen more than his fair share of ups and down with supporters, and asked if as skipper, he will now have a word with the squad ahead going into the match, he said: “Yes, I’ll speak to the lads that I think need to be spoken to and listen, we know we’re going into an atmosphere where our fans will be demanding on Tuesday night, they’ll be wanting a response.
"If you step up and play for a big club with a big fanbase, then we need to stick together. We’ve got each other, don’t worry, we’re there, it’s a football game, stick together, and all they (supporters) want is that work-rate, that intensity, that battling in duels. Just do that, do the basics really, really well on Tuesday that will be the message and they’ll get behind us.
Going out in front of their biggest away following for a league game, and with a great deal of pressure put on the side to win on Saturday, due to it being MK Dons, a place that Luton themselves came close to being relocated to in the early 1980s, one of the questions asked of Naismith was whether there were any nerves felt from Town’s players ahead of, or during, the fixture.
That wasn’t the case in his eyes, as he continued: “No, honestly, there was just excitement as we came off the back of that Wycombe game. We felt right, this is who we want to be, we’re going to kick on now. We’re going into a string of home games and we had to put a marker down here. The excitement all week of how many fans were coming to the game. We knew they were going to be right behind us and the atmosphere before the game, during the game, everything was top.
"They’ve got a right to voice their opinion after the game, but we can't question their support during the game. They gave us absolutely everything and they respond when we score, 1-1, it was amazing, so I don’t think there was any pressure. It’s a privilege to have a fanbase like that and we just wanted to get that win to nail the consistency and kick on and go into Tuesday and the atmosphere be bubbling again, but listen, we need to respond and we will do.
“Respect to them (MK Dons), they’re a good side, but when we score, one each and then you hear the roar from crowd and how much energy they give us, it’s like right, I’ve been here before, and we just go again and go again, fully in that mind, thinking positive. I expected us to go again and win the game, but it’s disappointing as we scored and we get that energy, but then we fell back into a little bit of giving the ball away and a little bit of sloppiness. It gives them a bit, then they score, and then instead of going again we give the ball away. Whether that’s concentration, but we’ll keep going, stick tighter, keep working and we’ll bounce back.”