Town midfielder admits Luton 'needed' morale-boosting Pilgrims triumph

Midfielder Jake Richards conceded that Luton’s players definitely ‘needed’ Tuesday night’s morale-boosting 2-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle in the Vertu Trophy quarter-final.

Going into the game, it saw the Hatters return to a home stadium in which they had been vehemently booed off just a few days earlier, when rounding off a timid performance by conceding a stoppage time equaliser against lowly Burton Albion. That led to some wholly unsavoury scenes afterwards, with both Jack Wilshere and Kal Naismith involved in some angry exchanges with supporters, and an uneasy feel ahead of the contest against one of the most in-form teams in the league in midweek, but although Kenilworth Road was less than half full on this occasion, there was a far more positive atmosphere around the place this time.

It was helped in no uncertain terms when the Hatters got going too, as having weathered some early pressure from their opponents, who were without star striker Lorent Tolaj, the hosts then took the lead on 16 minutes through Izzy Jones’ second goal of the season and this time made sure they stayed on the front foot, actually demonstrating a desire to go on and double their lead.

With 13 minutes left it looked like penalties were going to be on the cards as a mistake at the back saw the visitors draw level, but to their credit, Luton came on strong once more, Nahki Wells bundled over in the box when latching on to Kasey Palmer’s instinctive pass, Jordan Clark converting from the spot to put Town through to face Northampton Town in the semi-final next Wednesday.

It led to the Hatters being cheered off rather than jeered off on this occasion, as the home fans were warmly appreciative to what they had witnessed, as Richards, who despite being a second half substitute at the weekend, still had to incur the wrath from the stands, was thrilled to be able to put things right at the first attempt, especially when going up against the Pilgrims, as the summer signing from Exeter City told the club’s official website: “We're buzzing and I think we needed that.

"Obviously recent results haven't gone our way, or we haven't been good enough in games, but I think that was a real team performance and we deserved to go through to the semis. Growing up as an Exeter boy, our biggest rivals were Plymouth, but coming here, every game’s massive. You want to get to the semis of this competition and to potentially get to the final next week it would be a big achievement.”

The fact that Town were able to produce such a much-improved performance was largely down to the efforts of Richards, who was moved into a more central role along with Clark behind striker Wells. The pair combined impressively throughout as early on it was his terrific low cross that was met by Jones at the back post to open the scoring. He was then able to take the game by the scruff of its neck in the second period, with some driving runs forward, showcasing the close control and attacking intent that have become the hallmark of his short stint in Bedfordshire so far.

Named man of the match on the night, Richards received a standing ovation when substituted just ahead of a stoppage time period that Luton were able to withstand this time, as he continued: “At the end it was a special moment when I was coming off. That position was probably my favourite position that I’ve played all season. I was given a lot of freedom by the manager and when I'm around the box I like to create and thankfully Izzy was there for the assist, but all the boys were great in helping me to perform.”

The win means Town are now just one game away from a Wembley final against either Stockport County or Doncaster Rovers, as Richards knows that would be a huge occasion so early on in his career. However, it is all eyes on trying to arrest Luton’s woeful league away form first when they head to bottom side Port Vale this weekend, as he added: "Speaking to some of the boys, it's what you dream of as a kid, to play at Wembley.

"I think it would be a fantastic day out, the fans would deserve it, but we've got a big game next week to get it done. We’ve got to take it very seriously, knowing what’s to come from it if we do win and we will put our all into it. We need to continue this momentum, we’ve got a good result, but that doesn't mean anything if we don't perform on the weekend. We can take this into Port Vale and then into next Wednesday.”