Winning habit important to Bloomfield although Luton boss thought Town could have scored more

Luton chief Matt Bloomfield was satisfied that his side carried on the winning habit with an 8-1 victory over NK Trivlag Kranj on Saturday, although felt they could have won by an even higher margin.

Town played four lots of 30 minutes against the Slovenia Second League side out in their home country, as after a goalless first half hour, they were 1-0 up thanks to Zack Nelson’s acrobatic volley, the scoreline remaining that way until half time. Town, who had flown a number of their U21s out for the fixture with Mark McGuinness flying home due to illness, plus trio Lamine Fanne, Izzy Jones and Teden Mengi not featuring, added five more goals in the third quarter, Vladmir Paternoster, Lasse Nordas and Shandon Baptiste finding the net, with Taylan Harris also scoring a double.

Norwegian forward Nordas then added his second, youngster Jamie Odegah completing the rout, as discussing the victory that came on the back of a 3-0 success over National League side Boreham Wood before the trip away, Bloomfield told the club’s official YouTube channel: “Lots of pleasing elements to it, I thought the first 60 was obviously more competitive.

"I’m really pleased with some of the parts of the play when we were in possession, our intensity to press was very good. As the game went on, the younger our opposition got, the competition level wasn’t quite as high as maybe we would have liked, but it was good to get some goals and just a shame we didn’t get a clean sheet. I thought in the first 60, it was harder on the boys than the second 60 because of the dominance and how we took the ball off them higher up the pitch, but it was good to get 60 minutes in their legs especially after the work they’ve done during the week.

"It was lovely to see some of the younger boys getting opportunities to play with the illnesses and the injuries that we spoke about so some good bits. It’s been a very solid week for us. We’re not getting carried away, it’s a good win. It’s nice to get another win, it’s a habit we want to get into. Some really good finishes and we could have been a bit neater and tidier around the box as we did a lot of work on it this week.

"The pitch got a bit sticky towards the end, it would have been nicer to go on and score a few more, but some good thoughts on some of the players. I’ve been able to watch them hit the net a few times and a big thanks to the supporters who have travelled over. It was lovely to see them at the end, I know the club means a great deal to so many, it’s been a good day.”