Clean sheets are the only thing missing for Kovacs

Goalscoring defender Janos Kovacs couldn’t hide his disappointment despite Luton winning their third Conference game on the bounce on Tuesdday night, writes Mike Simmonds.

Town moved up to second in the table after beating Cambridge United 3-2 on a hugely entertaining evening, but Kovacs remained irked by the two goals they let in.

There wasn’t a great deal anyone could have done about Ricky Wellard’s blast from 20 yards, but Rory McAuley’s late header came from a set-piece which is proving a bone of contention for the Hungarian centre-half.

He said: “It was a great game, but not perfect for us.

“I’m very, very disappointed with the two goals, but on the other side, three points again in the bag, especially after we went a goal down.

“We knew we were good enough to come back, which shows how much strength we have, so I’m happy with that part, but disappointed with the two goals.

“The first one maybe we can say it was unlucky, a great strike, maybe we can say we can’t do too much about that, but I say we can.

“The second one was a little bit more of a disappointment as it was a set-piece again.

“We just need to keep working on this as we are conceding too many goals from set-pieces.”

On just how Town are trying to rectify the problem, Kovacs continued: “We are working on it in the training sessions and we do that every day.

“I’m pretty sure sooner or later, hopefully sooner, we will be rock solid and keep clean sheets.

“It’s the only thing at the moment that we need, so I’m pretty sure it will come soon.”

Kovacs was on target for the first time this season with a diving header that rocketed into the net, but he had just as much pleasure from the other goals, especially from his defensive partner.

He said: “I always like to score, everyone likes to score. I’m happy with my goal, but I’m more happy for Dean Beckwith as well as he’s come back after a long time and scored a great strike.

“We are playing together at the moment and in football it’s all about togetherness.

“The whole team need to be together and hopefully we can build on a good clean sheet next time.”

With striker Andre Gray currently in tremendous form, Town have undoubted quality in their forward ranks this season, with Jon Shaw still to return after suspension.

When talking about the Hatters goal threats, Kovacs couldn’t help but feel they will be even better once Town sharpen up at the back.

He said: “He’s (Gray) very good, as is Stuart (Fleetwood), he’s scoring for fun.

“It’s what you need, goalscorers in the team and I think we have loads of them.

“So I need to come back to the disappointment of the clean sheet, because if we can do these two things together, it would make it look even better.”

Town are now just one point behind early season leaders Forest Green Rovers and are seemingly well placed to make a title challenge this season as Kovacs said: “We’re on a very good run and especially early in the season it’s very important to stay up there.

“The most important thing is the top spot. We are second at the moment, so sooner or later if we can keep this run going, we’ll be top and hopefully this will be a good season for us.”

Hatters travel to Alfreton Town this weekend, and Kovacs, who is now fully fit after missing two games due to injury recently, is hopeful of making it four wins from four.

He added: “It was a muscle injury, a hip flex injury, so I needed to work on it.

“I need to keep strengthening it, but it’s feeling much better than I did, so I’m happy with that.

“We’re in good form, of course we go there for the three points.

“Every game is a tough game and we need to make sure we stay together.

“It’s never easy away from home but we need to get the best result from the game and of course it’s three points for us.”

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