Sunday training pays off for Hatters

Hatters manager Paul Buckle thought his side reaped the benefits from being called into training on Sunday as they emerged 2-0 winners at Nuneaton in the FA Cup on Tuesday night, writes Mike Simmonds.

The boss had been so angry with the manner of Town’s 2-0 reverse at the hands of Dartford at Kenilworth Road on Saturday, that he called them in the next day.

In front of almost 500 travelling fans, it paid instant dividends as they progressed to a second round tie with Dorchester Town, but the wounds were still raw as Buckle addressed the press.

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He said: “We were in at 9.30 on Sunday morning and rightly so because we were nowhere near it on Saturday and I was pleased we got back on it.

“We were angry from Saturday, we were hurt. A lot of home truths spoken on Sunday morning.

“We’re still a bit sore from the weekend I tell you. We know we let all our fans down on Saturday, they let us know and rightly so.

“I can assure you we’re absolutely trying our hearts out and working our socks off to try and get it right to try and go on an unbeaten run.

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“We’re not far away and the very fact that all these fans have turned again shows they really believe in us.”

Goalkeeper Mark Tyler admitted that calling the players in on their day off had been the right course of action from the manager.

He said: “I think we deserved to be in Sunday to put things right. We’ve worked on a few things in training the last few days and come out with a good victory.

“We were all disappointed, we don’t mean to lose games. I think it was just the manner of the two goals which disappointed the gaffer.

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“He gave us some stern words in the team meeting and the boys showed a bit of resilience to come through.

“The fans still come out in their forces. They come here, there and everywhere, there’ll be a good following Sunday as well.”

Although not involved either at the weekend, midfielder James Dance was in with the rest of the squad for extra training in a bid to right the wrongs.

He added: “We were in on Sunday and yesterday working on a few things the manager wasn’t happy with and we put a lot of them right, not all of them, as it’s not going to change overnight.

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“I don’t think you can mask over how we played on Saturday as it wasn’t to the levels that we set ourselves, let alone the paying public accept.

“That was discussed Sunday, we got out to the training field, put it into practice.

“At home, we know we haven’t got the magic formula to roll teams over which we’d like to have.

“We have to give them credit sometimes, when they come and park the bus, because they have to be disciplined, but we firmly believe in our ability that nine times out of 10 we can break them down.”

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