Buckle given food for thought after Nuneaton shut out

Hatters boss Paul Buckle admitted that Tuesday night’s defensive display at Nuneaton has given him food for thought as he plots Town’s attempts to win promotion back into the Football League this season, writes Mike Simmonds.

The Town chief reinstalled Janos Kovacs and Lathaniel Rowe-Turner to the back four after both missed Saturday’s 2-0 reverse at home to Dartford, while Ronnie Henry returned to right back, giving the visitors a much greater aerial advantage.

Buckle is now considering a safety first option that might serve his side well in future weeks as he said: “When we get (Simon) Ainge back, we might be ready to go for a big back four and compromise on the passing game a little bit.

“We’ve just got to keep the door shut and clear our lines, because (Andre) Gray did ever so well at what I would call walking the play.

“When we’re clearing our lines we looked a real threat, we proved that even on clearances as we looked a handful in behind and it has given me food for thought.”

Town’s clean sheet was just their fourth of the season and Buckle insisted it was the only thing on his mind prior to the game.

He said: “The main objective was to keep a clean sheet, that’s all we spoke about.

“I’m absolutely delighted, the main thing is we got through, you don’t get a second chance.

“It’s a tough game for us especially coming off the back of a disappointing game on Saturday which dented our confidence, so I was very proud of the players.”

Despite the shut out, Buckle was more than aware it didn’t come without alarm as Boro’s striker Chris Brown gave the Town defence a tough evening, seeing one header hit the post.

He continued: “It was a team performance, but we can’t get away from the fact they’ve hit the post and put us under pressure.

“They’ve had a few free headers, I’m not going to kid myself where that’s concerned.

“They threw a lot of balls in our box again, I think we can do better, especially with balls up. Our centre halves had really got to go and get their heads on ball.

“Their boys won quite a bit really, but having said that, there was a lot of changes from Saturday, so the boys have coped with it brilliantly.”

Buckle opted to change formation for the clash too, starting with a 4-4-2 system which saw JJ O’Donnell and Dan Walker take up the flanks.

It worked with O’Donnell in particular producing an inpsired display, doing excellently to set up Scott Rendell for his first goal.

The boss added: “At Hereford, we had nearly 500 passes and were just guilty of not getting enough numbers in the box.

“We worked on that for the Dartford game and we got numbers in the box, Andre Gray had about four good chances which was a big plus for us.

“We managed to keep our pattern play going, in terms of getting numbers in the box, so when O’Donnell did get down the side, we had Rendell going across, Gray in the box and Walker coming in on the back post as well.”

On O’Donnell, Buckle continued: “He’s an intelligent player. He was very narrow, but what JJ is good at doing, he knows where the space is.

“It was a big, wide pitch and we were able to get the ball to him. There was a decent blend to our game between clearing our lines and playing and that’s what I’m after.”

The boss was forced into a number of changes for the tie with Stuart Fleetwood, Adam Watkins, Jon Shaw, Jonathan Smith and Simon Ainge all out.

That meant the likes of Brett Longden, Alex Lacey and Jake Woolley were among the substitutes, with Woolley making a late appearance.

Buckle added: “We lost Adam Watkins in the morning, ill. Watto might have played a part.

“Stuart Fleetwood got a bad bang on his foot, we left that right to the end, (Simon) Ainge and (Jonathan) Smith couldn’t play too.

“They’re huge players for us. People like Fleetwood, Shaw, Ainge, Smith, are big players for us.

“Even the young players, Matt Robinson looked great again when he came on. It wasn’t quite running for Dan Walker. He took it on the chin coming off, it was the right thing to do tactically.

“Thinks like having Brett Longden on the bench Matt Robinson and Jake Woolley coming on, JJ O’Donnell progressing brilliantly.

“That gives me great pleasure. I know we have a lot work ahead of us but we’re four points off the top of the league, in the second round of the FA Cup and it’s all to play for. We’ve got to stick together and keep believing.”

For all the latest Luton Town FC news, reports, stats, player profiles, live match updates, MOM poll, prediction table and a complete fixture list, visit our Hatters Microsite.