Hatters delighted to win through Tamworth ‘cup tie’

The Lambs battled back from 4-1 to 4-3 to make for a jittery finale as Luton were just able to withstand their late onslaught.

Town’s players admitted it had been a real battle too as combative midfielder Jonathan Smith revealed that Still was unhappy about the goals they conceded.

He said: “Like the gaffer said, it was like a cup tie for Tamworth so we had to match that and so I don’t think for the first 10 minutes we did so it was important we got back into it.

“The gaffer’s not happy with us there because some of the goals we’ve conceded and stuff like that.

“It’s not just down to the defence, it’s down to the whole team and I think we’ve got to tighten up that part of our game as we seem to be fining the net pretty good at the moment.”

Still though was delighted by the two fantastic long-range strikes from midfielders Jonathan Smith and Andy Parry that gave Luton the lead before the break, having been 1-0 down.

He said: “Two great strikes and I think the one thing we are doing at the minute is we are scoring.

“We’ve got lots of people that can score. If we had come here and said we are going to win 1-0, I’d have been happy with that.

“But to score four goals is terrific. Have we got to defend the directness of teams better, I would say we have because I don’t think we did deal with it well enough.

“But I have to give them credit, I do, because I thought the temp and everything about their work-rate, the crowd, the atmosphere was a cup tie atmosphere. And away from home in a cup tie is never easy.”

Veteran striker Paul Benson netted a decisive double after the break much to Still’s delight, but the Town chief knows there is still plenty to work on.

He added: “Terrific. I think the last two goals were well worked goals. You look at that and you think 4-1, we should be home and we were and we did, so I haven’t got any complaints about it.

“But it’s tough. Just after 4-1 I think he made a great save to stop it from being 5-1 and then Benno’s just put one past the post, I think it almost hit him and I think that would have made it 5-2.

“But that’s football. That’s the greatest thing about this game, to win and to be successful you’ve got to beat all sorts of teams in all sorts of conditions with all sorts of tactics, and at the moment we’re doing that.

“Do we have to be better defensively? Yes we do. But as I said earlier on in the season when weren’t scoring goal, will we score goals, yes we will.

“Will we not concede goals? Yes we will.

For more of Still’s thoughts, see the Luton News/Dunstable Gazette.