Cullen impressed by Town’s next generation

Striker Mark Cullen was left impressed by Hatters’ next generation after they eventually saw off Staines Town in the FA Trophy, writes Mike Simmonds.
Mark CullenMark Cullen
Mark Cullen

Hatters were held to a goalless draw in the first round tie at Wheatsheaf Park on Saturday, before beating their Skrill South opponents 2-0 during a replay on Tuesday night.

Cullen said: “All the young lads have done really well. Tinashe (Chabata) playing right back, he’s never played right back before, so credit’s got to go to him.

“We don’t really train with them that much, so it’s hard to understand what kind of players they are.

“I think all of them have put in a good shift and shown the manager they’re more than capable of stepping into the first team if they’re ever needed, so hopefully they grow from that now.

Cullen himself had a number of one-on-one chances to add to his five goal tally for the season in both matches, but was denied each time by Swans keeper Jack Turner.

He continued: “I feel like I should be scoring those chances and I’m disappointed not to. But at the end of the game, we won the game.”

Town did finally break Turner’s resistance with strikes from Andy Parry and Shaun Whalley as Cullen said: “Paz is a good technical footballer, he’s come up through the ranks at Blackburn, we work on that sort of stuff every day in training, so it was a good finish.

“You’re lucky if Shaun heads it never mind scores it, so it was a bit random that one.”

The summer signing had been upfront with Zane Banton at the weekend, while he was paired with fit-again Alex Wall on Tuesday night too.

On his various partnerships, he said: “They’re both completely different players.

“Wally’s a big unit, so it’s good to try and feed off the scraps.

“Obviously we’re not going to win many headers me and Zane, so we’ve got to try and link up a bit more.

“It’s all good and I like playing both ways so it was enjoyable.”

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