Town chief hails Luton's 'fight, spirit and togetherness' on show during Rovers victory

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield hailed his side’s fighting spirit after they ended what the manager had labelled as an incredibly difficult week by picking up an important three points when beating Doncaster Rovers 1-0 at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

The Hatters ensured it was a tough seven days for themselves following their 3-1 loss at Lincoln City last weekend, a game in which they came in for some severe criticism both on the day from supporters who had made the trip to the LNER Stadium and in the aftermath as well. It meant they stepped out on to pitch in real need of a result, something they managed when producing a far better display than they had managed against the Imps, Kal Naismith on target with his first goal of the season on 40 minutes to settle the contest.

Having stated that the Lincoln display didn’t reflect him as manager, then asked if today had done instead, Bloomfield said: “I hope so. It was the fighting spirit that we want, that we need, that performance today reflected our group a lot more. It had the identity of a group that makes me proud and the boys made me proud today. It was a really important day for us to get three points. It’s been a challenging week as we spoke about yesterday at length and the boys to show that fight, spirit and togetherness to come through with a victory was very important.”

The goal itself came just before half time when Shayden Morris was fouled by Glenn Middleston which allowed George Saville to send over a free kick that was met by Naismith for a glancing header that goalkeeper Ian Lawlor could only divert into the roof of the net. On the strike, Bloomfield continued: Shayden, one v one moments, we know his quality. Sav’s delivery and Kal getting on the end of it, two seniors who have led the way for us this season and provide real stability in the changing room and leadership, so it was fantastic for all those involved."

Luton might have made it more comfortable before the break too when Nahki Wells was tripped inside the area by Jamie Sterry, only for the forward, who had scored from 12 yards against Plymouth Argyle last time out, to see his effort excellently palmed away by Lawlor, the seventh time he has missed from the spot during his career, against 22 that have found the net.

Bloomfield added: “Anyone who’s willing to put themselves up for a penalty, there’s no criticism attached to that. It was a lovely move down our left hand side, it’s just a shame that it didn’t result in a goal as we’ve had a couple of those moves this season that haven’t resulted in goals. It just feels like we’re getting it to click and when it does I feel like we’ll have even more attacking instinct about us.”