Town boss remains calm

The hosts had looked a shadow of themselves for the opening 25 minutes as Town trailed 1-0 to Andy Mangan’s goal, before Gareth Taylor’s penalty was saved by Mark Tyler.

Zdenek Kroca levelled the scores midway through the half and, after the break, Hatters comfortably eased through.

Brabin said: “I said at half time to the lads, we’re a good side, we just need to do the things we’ve worked on.

“Start enjoying it, stop worrying too much about the occasion and the scoreline. The lads did that and I thought it was more like us second half.”

The Hatters boss had warned his side ahead of the tie that the Welshman would come to Kenilworth Road as a wounded animal, and they did just that, causing an almighty scare.

Brabin continued: “We definitely expected that first half from Wrexham.

“They’re a good side, they’re in this position on merit.

“We knew they had nothing to lose and they’ve thrown everything at us.

“I thought we looked really nervous. It’s something I tried to play down since the game last week and it’s hard.

“People say we can’t get complacent but at the back of their minds, they still believe that we’ve done it.

“Football is a very, very strange game. They’ve come here with a gameplan and its given them a great start.

“With a little bit of nervousness on our behalf, it’s probably made for a bit of an uncomfortable 20-25 minutes.”

Cheered on by over 9,000 fans, the atmosphere inside the ground was electric throughout and something Brabin was eager to praise.

He said: “It’s absolutely fantastic. I keep saying the connection between the supporters and players and team has been absolutely immense.

“It’s getting stronger each game and if we can carry that to the final, the lads are confident of getting promotion.”

Either AFC Wimbledon or Fleetwood Town await the Hatters at Eastlands and Brabin added: “We’ve got to enjoy the occasion.

“We’ve jumped over another hurdle but the job is certainly not done.

“The lads will have a couple of days off and then we’re back in training and it’s back to work.”