Buckle after a repeat performance at Wrexham

Luton hold a clear advantage after an attacking display led to goals from Stuart Fleetwood and Andre Gray on Thursday, and Buckle sees no reason why he shouldn’t send his team out with the same positive intent on Monday.

He said: “I think both teams learned a bit more about each other now, so they will know about us, we know about them.

“The nice thing is we don’t have to change too much. We can go there for the win, go there to try and keep a clean sheet again. We’ll work hard on the training field to do that on Monday, and we’re getting our rewards for the hard work on the training field.

“It doesn’t actually guarantee success, but guarantees you can have an opportunity.

“The team is now set up to go and win games. Our mentality is to go and win every ball to shut the opposition down and score goals.”

Regarding his team selection for the clash, Buckle said: “I think there’s great value in the old saying you play well you keep the shirt. It’s something I don’t want to lose sight of.

“When I was a player, if you played really well and were left out it was heartbreaking at times.

“I’ve never got ahead of myself. We’ve come a long way from seven games ago. The players are getting more belief with every game, so lets go up to Wrexham and be professional and do what we can do.

“We know how we want to set up, how we want to play. We know what this league offers in terms of the physical side and nasty side.

“We’ve started to grasp that now, started to dig in and really fight for each other.

“We know we’ve got the quality going forward. Our fitness levels are going up all the time and it makes us a dangerous proposition.”

Although there will be plenty of disappointed Town players not making the side in Wales, it won’t be an issue according to Buckle, such is the team spirit within the club right now.

He said: “To get promoted you need a combination of a number of things and team spirit is massive, it’s a huge thing.

“I am treating every player the same. Whether you’re in the team or out of the team, you’re treated the same. I think that’s getting through to the players now.

“They’re all wanting each other to do well, it’s a healthy place, a really committed place at the moment.

“It’s good competition for places, but it’s not somewhere where if you’re not in the team you’re in the corner slagging off your peers. They’re happy for their peers but they’re desperate to be involved too.”

Although Town are two goals to the good and hot favourites to reach the Wembley final against either Mansfield or York City, Buckle has already drawn a line under Thursday night, with celebrations muted after the game.

He continued: “We celebrated the win, celebrated the fact we’ve worked our socks off and that we’ve played a good side and beat them.

“It was very minimal which was always the plan and we’ve got no complacent players. We’ll keep working really hard and when the time’s right and when it’s right for us, it will happen for us, we know that.

“I’ve only been looking at this game. I’m not interested in what’s gone before. It’s 0-0, we’ve got to go there and try and win the game.

“If we can concentrate on that we give ourselves a chance. They’ll be no clever play from me or the players beforehand. We’ll just go and try to continue the good run we’re on and try and win the game.”

The Hatters boss wasn’t fussed with how Wrexham would approach the game due to the two goal deficit either, adding: “I don’t know what’s in their mind and I’m not going to rack my brains to find out what’s in their mind.

“It doesn’t interest me what Wrexham do. It doesn’t interest me in what any team does. All that I’m interested in is getting every last ounce out of my team and the squad.

“At the moment I’m getting that and I’m very pleased. We’re all very focused on this game on Monday, whichever 11 I pick and subs I pick will be very committed.”

Town’s fans will travel to Wrexham in their hordes too, with the away allocation already sold out, to the delight of Buckle, who was in awe of their support at Kenilworth Road.

He added: “That absolutely put the icing on the cake. When you’ve got a fanbase like we’ve got and the support we’ve got.

“They’ll (Wrexham) have a lot more numbers than us, but Luton fans make a lot of noise. The first game I watched away from home, we conceded and they started singing.

“That gave me a real insight into what we’ve got here. We’ll be doing everything we can to get over the line and I’m sure they’ll do everything they can to push us there.”

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