Neilson apologises to fans after Braintree debacle

Luton were beaten 2-0 on Tuesday night, turning in a performance that was every bit as bad as the one that saw them defeated 3-1 last season.

Neilson said: “It’s a massive disappointment, I’m absolutely gutted.

“I apologise to the fans that came, at the minute we’re all in a real bad place, the players, myself.

“The new manager is in the stands, he spoke to the players this afternoon before we left Kenilworth Road and the players can’t lift themselves.

“We know they’re down at the moment, but we know too many players aren’t showing the quality they’ve got, so we’ve got to work hard to get a lot better.”

Neilson was in the dug out with Stuart Cash and Carl Emberson, but admitted he is looking forward to the impact that new manager John Still will have when he takes charge on Thursday.

He said: “The new manager has come in and speaking to us afterwards, he goes, we’re going to lift this, we’re going to get a lot better, no doubts about that.

“We’re going to really, really work hard to get out of this and try and get into the play-offs. There’s going to be a lot of time on the training field and long hours to get us back into the position.

“He’s got his ideas, the way he wants to play. If you look at last season, we were nearly rock bottom and got into the play-offs, so we’ve got to do that now.

“The manager and coaching staff will be working their damn hardest to make sure we give it a real go.”

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