Shea: We're not little old Luton anymore

Luton keeper James Shea insists that Town’s results against the top two teams in the Championship recently show that they are now fully deserving of their second tier status.

The Hatters took on a Norwich City side who are top of the table recently, appearing destined for an immediate return to the Premier League, condemning the Canaries to a 3-1 defeat.

They then came up against Bournemouth last weekend, holding the Cherries to a 0-0 draw, and but for the efforts of visiting keeper Asmir Begovic, might well have come away with all three points.

Shea, who has played the last six games after an injury to Simon Sluga, said: “They’re the best two teams in the league, they’re going to be right up there come the end of the season, so to take some points off Norwich and Bournemouth, it just shows how far we’ve come as a club.

"It's not little old Luton anymore, we are a Championship team.

"We deserve to be where we are, we play the right way, we've got good players, a good team spirit and the table doesn't lie."

Luton's start to the season is world away from last term when they found themselves struggling for the majority of the campaign, only escaping relegation on the final day by beating Blackburn Rovers 3-2.

Shea believes that the whole squad is now better equipped for the second tier after their experiences of fighting the drop, saying: "I feel like we’ve got used to this level now.

“We probably a bit in awe last season, 'we’re playing Championship,' but we deserve to be here now.

"We are a good team and we’re keeping clean sheets, we deserve to be and we’re turning into Championship players which is the main thing.

"We aren’t overawed by teams now, we're going to places, even against Middlesbrough, we lose 1-0, but we could have easily picked up a draw or a win there, comfortably.

"We could be sitting here with a few more points than we are on, but it's the league, and we are getting used to it.

"We do deserve to be at this level, last year was tough, it was a lot of the boy's first year in the Championship, but I think you can see now a lot of the boys have got used to the level and we’re improving every day on the training pitch.

"Every game we play we’re getting better and better, so long may that continue, I think we are a good Championship team now."

Although it was Bournemouth who came into the game as clear favourites, it was Luton who dominated in terms of goalscoring opportunities, Danny Hylton, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Sam Nombe all going close.

Shea continued: “I said that when we went in at the end of the game, we had the better chances, I thought we were the team that looked like scoring.

"They had a lot of possession as you'd expect, they are a Premier League team with Premier League players, but I thought we had the better chances overall.

"Hylts has had a good shot saved, Sam's one-on-one and a few other corners we are close.

"They had a free kick in the first couple of minutes and another one, apart from that I've had nothing to do.”

Town now head to Reading on this afternoon, before they then take on the Royals once more in the FA Cup just two weeks later, after also taking on the Berkshire club in the Carabao Cup this term, winning 1-0.

Shea added: “We never stop playing Reading and then we’ve got them again in a few weeks time.

"It’s going to be another tough game, every game is tough in this league, you can’t predict anything.

“We’re not scared of anyone, we go into each game believing we’re going to win the game.

"If you're going to be scared there's no point playing, so we’ll prepare right and go again."