Self-belief the key for Cuthbert as he hits top form with Hatters

Self-belief has been the key for Hatters captain Scott Cuthbert reaching his top form for the club this term.
Scott Cuthbert heads clear against DoncasterScott Cuthbert heads clear against Doncaster
Scott Cuthbert heads clear against Doncaster

The 29-year-old turned in another stellar display during Luton’s 1-1 draw at leaders Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

Although there are still 14 games to go, Cuthbert is clearly one of the contenders to win the club’s player of the season award after a string of outstanding displays this term.

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Town’s skipper was quick to praise boss Nathan Jones for the part he has played in helping him achieve such consistency, saying: “I’m loving playing in this team at the moment.

“The manager has put a lot of belief in me, a lot of self belief back into me as well and I’m enjoying it.

“It’s a great bunch, a young squad and I’m enjoying being one of the senior lads, along with Mulls (Johnny Mullins) and Sheez (Alan Sheehan).

“Your self belief grows with playing well.

“You get your confidence up as well, but the manager has got a great way about him, all the coaching staff do.

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“I feel like I’m playing well at the moment and I just want to continue that and I don’t want to start over-thinking things. As long as the team are doing well and I’m doing well I’ll be happy.”

Cuthbert was back in the side at the weekend after being rested for the 3-0 win over Hartlepool in midweek.

The former Leyton Orient defender admitted he hadn’t been keen to sit on the bench though, saying: “As a player, you don’t want to miss any games.

“I love playing week in, week out, but we’ve got such a good squad and such a talented squad that the manager has got the options. If he thinks you’re looking a bit leggy he can pull you out.

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“The rest has done me good. I sat there with my feet up, watched the lads win comfortably against Hartlepool and I was ready and raring to go here (Doncaster).”

Cuthbert was alongside Alan Sheehan at the weekend, with the pair immense throughout the 90 minutes, and on his defensive partner, the Scotsman said: “He’s quite deceivingly good in the air, Sheez.

“You don’t expect a player of his height to be that good but he’s got a good leap and he won a lot of the balls. He’s been excellent.”

The pair comfortably kept Rovers’ 18-goal frontman John Marquis quiet too as Cuthbert added: “He’s scored goals quite a few times in this league for a few teams. I’ve played against him and Andy Williams quite a lot throughout my career and know their strengths.

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“It’s tough to play against them, their movement is very, very good, one of the best in this league but I felt as a team that we managed that very well.”

Meanwhile, although Cuthbert was ultimately satisfied with the point, he was slightly disappointed Luton weren’t leaving with all three.

He added: “I felt we were outstanding. We did really well and controlled the majority of the game, limited them to very few chances.

“They’re a very good side, they’re top of the league on a great run and I felt that we did really well. I’m disappointed, actually, that we’ve conceded that goal. But all in all, there were massive positives to take from it. I thought every individual was excellent.

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“You go 1-0 up here and think, ‘hold tight’. We limited them to very few chances and we thought we could go on to get a massive, massive win. It wasn’t to be but we’ve come to the league leaders, they’ve been flying, hard to beat and we’ve done very, very well.”