Boro buoyed ahead of Hatters dogfight

While Luton were held to a goalless draw at fellow strugglers AFC Telford on Tuesday night, Boro pulled off a great victory.

Luton boss Paul Buckle said: “Every team is buoyed when they play Luton. You get sick of hearing that from me, but it’s the truth.

“I’m sure all of the people at Telford, the press, the fans, will say if they play like they will be fine.”

Town struggled in the first half against the Bucks, but passed up chances in the second half to win it.

One of the offenders was lively young striker Andre Gray, and he’s confident they can increase their one-point midweek haul to three on Saturday.

“I think if we just play a little more livelier in the first half we’ll beat them,” he said.

“I think today the first half was slow so it is obviously harder because it feels as if you are chasing the game.

“Because we are obviously not the underdogs any more. Saturday it will be a tough game because they are a good side, they’re fighting for relegation as well so it’s someone fighting for the top and fighting at the bottom, so it will be a dogfight.”

Combative midfielder Alex Lawless believes Telford took heart as the game progressed, but is confident they can beat Nuneaton at Liberty Way on Saturday.

He said: “I think if we had managed to get a goal, I think they thrived off the fact the score was still level. But we’ve got to kick on now, we’ve gained a point and we’ve got to look to get three on Saturday now.

“Our aim is to not drop any points. We’re disappointed we haven’t come away with all three but we’ve got the one, we’re undefeated again, and we’ll build on Saturday now. We definitely need the three points on Saturday.”

Boro are familiar opponents for the Hatters, having beaten them 2-0 in the league at home in October, drawn with them 1-1 away in the FA Cup in November before beating them 2-0 in the replay thanks to two Lawless goals.

And he’s anticipating a similar game to Tuesday’s, saying: “If conditions are similar then I’d imagine it would be the same style but I think it’s quite useful we already played them in the FA Cup there.

“You are familiar with it from it not being long ago and I think we’ll use that and hopefully get another win like we did in the cup against them.

Both Gray and Jon Shaw missed great chances on the night, but Lawless backed them to bulge the net at the weekend, adding: “On another day they’ll go in. The lads are disappointed, we all have chances and that, but we have full faith in them and I wouldn’t be surprised if they come up Saturday and both scored and that’s football for you and hopefully that will be the case.”