Battling Hatters win is the sign of ‘champions’ says thrilled Franks

Thrilled Fraser Franks hailed Town’s battling 2-1 win at Macclesfield Town on Tuesday night as the signs of ‘champions’, writes Mark Wood.
Macclesfield Town v Luton Town. wk 07.Macclesfield Town v Luton Town. wk 07.
Macclesfield Town v Luton Town. wk 07.

The delighted debutant produced a committed performance alongside his new team-mates, putting in a number of important blocks and one great last-gasp sliding tackle to thwart the Silkmen at the death..

Franks admitted it had been a tough first game, saying: “It was, but I’m a defender and that’s what I enjoy. I enjoy putting my body on the line, heading, we had to do a lot of defending and dig in at the end, but this is a sort of champion’s performance.

“You can see from the boys, you don’t probably play as well as you can, we didn’t get the ball down as well as we can, but we dug in and got a result and that’s what champions do.”

The 23-year-old defender was relieved to finally get his full debut out of the way, three weeks after signing from Skrill Premier rivals Welling.

He said: “I’m really pleased, all the boys are buzzing after the result and I think you saw it with the scenes as soon as the final whistle went. It’s been quite a long time, I’ve been here three weeks now and we’ve had a couple of games called off, so it was nice to get my debut out of the way and I’m pleased we got three points. We had to dig in, but I was really pleased we got the three points in the end.

“It’s probably one of the best feelings I’ve had at the final whistle. There’s a real togetherness with the boys and when you dig in and win games like that they’re the best ones, so really pleased.

“From training and that you are part of it, but when you get out there I really felt part of it and the boys have helped me and we’ve got some big characters in the team and they’re the sort of people that can help you push on and win leagues.”

Franks was pleased with his own showing too, as he continued: “I’m pleased as I said I just wanted to get my debut done and I’m pleased with how it went, I think I performed pretty well so I’m happy with it.”

Despite the difficult conditions and two pitch inspections in the lead up to the game, Franks had always been sure it would go ahead after having to bide his time to make his bow.

He said: “For some reason I was confident today would always go ahead, I don’t know why. Maybe it’s been a blessing in disguise for me (the lack of games).

“I’ve come from part-time football, it’s given me three weeks to integrate with the boys and get used to the tempo of training and stuff.

“So maybe it’s not too much of a harm for me, but I’m just really pleased to get some games now and hopefully kick on and win the league with Luton.”

The tall defender looks likely to become a regular too after boss John Still revealed that centre-half Ryan Inniss has returned to Premier League Crystal Palace so he can go out on loan for the rest of the season.

He missed the match through illness in what would have been the last game of a month-long loan spell that saw him net once in three appearances.

Still explained the reason for his return, saying: “He’s gone back. The reason being we might have extended the loan for one more month to give (Alex) Lacey a chance to get fit, but then he would have had to go back and he had the chance to go somewhere until the end of the season, so really we had to do that.

“But Fraser’s come in today and I think put in a first class performance.”

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