Hatters pile the pressure on leaders Cambridge United with Southport victory

Victory over Southport on Tuesday night has helped to mount the pressure on leaders Cambridge United as Town cut the gap at the top to just four points, writes Mark Wood.
L13-1400 LTFC v Southport at Kenilworth road, Luton, they won 3:0 
Mike Simmonds
JR 48
26.11.13L13-1400 LTFC v Southport at Kenilworth road, Luton, they won 3:0 
Mike Simmonds
JR 48
26.11.13
L13-1400 LTFC v Southport at Kenilworth road, Luton, they won 3:0 Mike Simmonds JR 48 26.11.13

With neither the U’s or second-placed Kidderminster in action, the Town’s win moved them up into second place as the race at the top continues to heat up.

It was Luton’s sixth home win in a row and stretched their unbeaten run in the league to 13.

Boss John Still said: “If teams are not playing and you’re playing, the last thing you want to do is not close the gap.

“One of my sayings is you can only control the controllables. You can’t worry about what other people do, we can only worry about what we do.

“I think that probably, two or three clubs, be it their supporters, be it their staff, be it the players themselves, will be looking for this result and they’ll go ‘oh no!’

“There’s a long way to go, we’re just going to keep doing what we do and if Cambridge remain unbeaten they’re going to win the league aren’t they. But are they going to remain unbeaten? I don’t know.

“We beat Southport today. I know we lost there earlier in the season, but Cambridge lost at Southport.

“Lots of games to go, and you know what, the strong get stronger, winners win, losers complain.

“We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing, we can’t worry about other teams and I’m really happy with what we’re doing.

“I look at a run of games, never a game, I think that’s six home games on the trot we’ve won, form’s good and everyone’s doing OK.”

The comfortable 3-0 win over the Sandgrounders came despite the Hatters not being at their best and veteran defender Steve McNulty believes they are well placed.

He said: “We’re not at our best at the minute and we’re still getting the points on the board, we’ll take that tonight and the performance can only get better.

“At the of the day it’s three points and we’re keeping the pressure on the teams above us.

“We’re not worrying how many points above us they are or how many games are played, at the end of the day we’ve seen it before, teams have gone nine, 12 points clear at the top of the league and they’ve always been caught.

“We can only look after ourselves and our own performances. So hopefully we just going to keep winning and keep the pressure on them.

“We’ve always said if you win your home games in this league and you pick points up on the road then you’re not going to be far off come the end of the season.

“We’re doing that at the minute and long may it continue.

“We have to turn this place into a fortress. Teams come here and they play in front of 7,000 they get a lift, but we have to turn that to our advantage and we’re doing that at the minute.”

McNulty had opened the scoring the victory with a magical volley, before Jonathan Smith and Andre Gray scored to seal victory.

Smith admitted it is difficult not to keep half an eye on the table, as he added: “It was important to win. People say they don’t look at league tables but it’s nice to claw a few points back and hopefully we can just keep it going.

“Everyone says they don’t, but it’s hard not to have a little look, especially when you’re at the top because you want to see what you’re doing.

“If you’re struggling a little bit you don’t have a look, but it’s hard not to when you’re doing well.

“It is still early and we’re hoping to keep it going.”

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