Perfection almost achieved for Town chief

TOWN boss Paul Buckle hailed a near perfect performance as his side took another step towards the play-offs with a confident victory over Ebbsfleet on Tuesday night, writes Mike Simmonds.

Stuart Fleetwood netted twice, while Craig McAllister finally ended his long-standing lean run, leaving the boss purring afterwards.

He said: “I’m delighted, that’s as close as you’ll get to a perfect performance.

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“I was thinking as I was walking to you guys, do I actually express myself in case the boys can’t replicate that, but I trust them now, I trust them with my life.

“I was speaking in the dressing room and everything we do has to be done at tempo, everything we do has to mean something because this is the reward.

“Certainly we looked mobile, aggressive in everything we’ve done. The only disappointment in many ways is it should have been a lot, lot more goals.”

Hatters had peppered the Ebbsfleet goal and would have racked up a larger victory, had it not been for the visiting keeper Tom McNeil, who made a host of fine saves.

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Buckle put Town’s new-found attacking mentality down to a change in their tempo in training that they are taking on to the pitch.

He continued: “Attempts on goal, I thought we might have broken a record, it was incredible.

“The good thing for me is we did it for 90 minutes.

“We’re on the front foot, we go pressing all over the pitch and on the back of that you saw a real high tempo performance in our passing.

“We passed the ball a lot better, created chances all evening and you can only do that if you’re fit.

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“We’re looking fitter and fitter, so we can put more pressure on teams for longer.

“Ebbsfleet were always going to be in the game at 2-0 but the great thing is the players are believing and capable of lasting a game.

“The last two or three games I’ve watched, we’ve flagged towards the end, there’s none of that now.

“The captain (George Pilkington) epitomised us with a last-ditch tackle at 2-0.

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“There wasn’t a weakness anywhere. We said on Saturday, Luton’s not a soft touch any more.

“No disrespect with what’s gone on before, we’re just not a soft touch any more.

“We’re strong and aggressive and we’ll go and play our stuff.”

There was an incident that left Buckle bemused though when Stuart Fleetwood was pulled back by Ross Smith, but the referee waved play on before, once the chance had been missed, cautioned the Fleet defender, and then signalled for a corner.

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He continued: “That one’s beyond me, because I’m sure the law is, if you’re the last man (you get sent off).

“Fleets gets tugged. If he doesn’t get tugged he can go through in a controlled manner, go round the goalie.

“But because he’s been tugged it gives the goalie the opportunity to come out.

“If it’s in the box, it should be a penalty and a sending off. A yellow card is just middle ground and it’s annoying.”

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