Rea: Shrimpers win a real confidence booster

That’s the view of Glen Rea who was named captain for the night as Town saw off Southend United 2-0 on Tuesday night, picking up a first shut out of the campaign in the process.

The 23-year-old had come off the bench with Luton 2-0 down at Peterborough on Saturday, unable to prevent Jason Cummings making it 3-0 by the break, with Danny Hylton’s second half goal scant consolation for an improved performance.

Hatters bounced back with a convincing win over the Shrimpers though as Rea said: “We take massive confidence from this, the clean sheet, first one of the season, so we build and go again Saturday.

“We weren’t happy with the first half (against Peterborough).

“That’s not us, we know that’s not us. It wasn’t good enough, everyone knows that, but I felt second half we did a bit better and got on the ball.

"The other day weren’t good enough though, but we put it right, won the game 2-0, kept a clean sheet and it gives us confidence for the next game so we’re just happy with the win."

Taking the lead for the first time this season through Elliot Lee inside the opening two minutes was just the tonic for Luton as well, with Rea continuing: “We said before the game, if we get the first goal, normally we do well.

"We were pushing and getting on the seconds, I felt we did that well the first half and got our rewards.

“It was just nice to get the first goal and we know we can keep clean sheets, we know we can, it was just a case of doing it,

“He’s (Lee) a striker isn’t he, he was good again and I’m happy for him.“

Town could and should have got a third in the second half, with Andrew Shinnie and Hylton denied, while it looked like Rea had given his side extra breathing space with a towering header, only to see it disallowed.

He said: “I thought I did score. I’ve come close in the last couple of games, but obviously it was a foul.

"I don’t know, I didn’t think it was, I put it in the goal and thought I scored.

“I should have scored Saturday, but they’ll come.”

Rea, who was one of four changes for the game, was making his first start of the season in the league, but hadn’t let his lack of action during the first three matches get to him, saying: “I wasn’t frustrated, I just keep plugging along and when I get my chance I try and take it.

“When I get the call I’ll be ready and we always know we’ve got strength in depth.

“Whoever steps in is going to do well. We know we’ve got that squad and it’s unreal that we’ve got that squad, so whoever's stepping in will do well and we feel like it doesn’t really change much.”