Town strikers buoyed by competition for places

COMPETITION for places up front is going to spur the Hatters strikers on this season, writes Mike Simmonds.

With accomplished duo Scott Rendell and Jon Shaw joining up with the prodigiously talented Andre Gray and leading scorer from last season Stuart Fleetwood, Luton possess four forwards who would get into any other side in the Conference.

Rendell is confident it will only make the individuals concerned strive even harder for their place though, as he said: “That’s what every player wants in football, they don’t want to admit it, but it brings the best out of people.

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“We’ve got fantastic options up front and hopefully we can score some goals and win as many games as possible to win promotion.

“That’s what the aim is and to go for that aim you’ve got to have a lot of attacking options, which for me is good.

“If you do pick up injuries along the way you’ve got more than capable back ups or other options in the squad already.”

Shaw, who bagged 35 goals for Gateshead last season, was also of the same opinion, as he said: “It’s something you thrive off. If day in, day out, in training the lad next to you is banging goals in and does what you want to do, it makes you work that little bit harder to get there.

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“It’s not a problem and I think the manager would like a problem like that when it comes to match day.”

For manager Paul Buckle, it is the ideal quandary to have as he believes the front four will help Luton possess an attacking force to be scared of in the Conference this season.

He added: “It’s a headache on quality rather than quantity as I don’t want loads of numbers.

“Jon is a pleasure to talk too. He’s very similar to Rendell in the way he goes about his business, very serious about the game and where he wants to be in his career.

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“Certainly I can see them two hitting it off. We’ve got Fleets, we’ve got Andre, it’s a nice four to have.

“Last season you saw me play a real attacking style, Fleets coming in from the left, Andre from the right.

“Rendell can link Shaw and Shaw is a real handful in the box. I don’t want to talk about injuries, but I think we’ve got a nice balance now.”

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