Kasim up for the hard work to earn Town shirt

Classy midfielder Yaser Kasim is ready to be run into the ground as he bids to earn a regular first team place at Kenilworth Road, writes Mark Wood.

The Brighton youngster, who is on loan until the new year, netted his first goal in a Luton shirt as he came off the bench at Tamworth to turn Tuesday night’s game on its head as Town came back from a goal down to triumph 2-1.

Kasim, who hasn’t started a game since the 1-0 home defeat to AFC Telford, said: “It’s difficult not to play, but I’m a footballer and you just have to go through it.

“I can’t take anything for granted so I have to keep at it and keep my head down.

“Every league is kind of different and this one needs a little bit more fitness.

“Now they’re going to run me I guess! So I’m going to have to get my mentality into that, just get a little bit fitter so I can control the game a bit more.

“It’ll make me look bad, but give me a better body!”

Boss Paul Buckle is pleased with the way Kasim has responded to being on the bench as he said: “Yaser came in and saw me before the game so I just said to him there, can you come and knock on my door every day before a game?

“We know the ability Yaser has got, he’s got fabulous ability on the ball, but could you have seen him starting in there and lasting for the 90 minutes? No, because it was a scrap early on.

“What we’ve got to try and do with Yaser is to try and get the other side.

“Not all of it, I’m not asking him to be a (Alex) Lawless or someone who is going to dog around, but he’s got to do the other side of it.

“He knows now if does the other side, and he is disciplined with his runners, because if you are playing midfield you have to do that, end of.

“You don’t carry anyone any more, you have got to go with your runners.

“If he does that and puts his foot in, the rest will take care of itself because he is a quality player.”

Kasim netted his first goal for Town on Tuesday night just five minutes after coming on.

On his game-changing strike, the 21-year-old Iraqi said: “I’m happy, it’s good to win.

“It gives me a little bit more confidence. I’m happy that we won so that’s good.

“Fleets (Stuart Fleetwood) had the composure to put it across to me on the edge of the box.

“I took it into the box, one-two off the defender, luckily it bounced to me and I put it in.”

There was no real celebration, as he said: “I was focused, we just wanted to get the ball and go.”

Kasim was part of a treble substitution that completely altered the encounter as he continued: “It shows that football nowadays is a squad-game.

“So it shows that we were ready, no-one sulked on the bench and they were cheering everyone on who started.

“It shows that we are a team and to get the win will bring us together even more.”

On his briefing before coming on, he added: “Get it and pass it and just to keep it.

“When you are 1-0 down you have to make a change.

“When you come on, the adrenaline starts going. I’m not a goalscorer, I was surprised because I got lucky.

“But we had to change the game, we had to be more attacking and just get forward and pass the ball. So I was just lucky that it dropped.

“After last week it wasn’t great so we needed to prove something.

“Whether it was 2-1 or 4-0, a win’s a win, but the way we came back was pretty good.”

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