Neilson demands Hatters become men at Braintree

Hatters assistant boss Alan Neilson wants his side to become men at Braintree Town this evening, writes Mike Simmonds.

Luton were overpowered physically at the Amlin Stadium last season, going down to a 3-1 defeat in what was one of their worst displays of season.

Neilson knows the surroundings and surface are not what Town’s players are accustomed to, but wants no excuses from his team.

He said: “We have to go there and be big and strong. Grimsby who were top of the league went there last Tuesday and got turned over 2-0, so we know it’s not going to be easy.

“We need 11 men who are going to go there, battle, scrap. We know the pitch is not going to be like Kenilworth Road, it’s going to be a real poor pitch, worse than a Sunday park pitch.

“But we’ve got to be big and strong, go there and believe and be really physical, win the football match. Whichever way we can get the three points we’ll take them now.”

That view was echoed by striker Scott Rendell, who said: “It’s definitely not an easy place to go. The surroundings are not going to be the best we play in this year, but we’ve got to go these places as we’re all in the same league.

“They start at the same level pegging as us, we’ve got no god given right to go out there and win the game, so we need to go out there as men and stick together as men and the group.”

Town are still 11 points away from the play-offs after Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat to Mansfield.

Although Neilson remains confident they can still reach the top five, he understands that talk is cheap.

He added: “We’ve said it quite a while now. There are 16 games left, but we can forget about that.

“We’ve got to win the next game, we can look ahead and say three games in hand over this team, four games, two games, whatever it’s going to be.

“But it’s got to be the next game, go and get the confidence and go and get the three points.

“We’ve got to go on a roll. There’s no doubt we’ve got players who can do it, we’ve just got to stick together, be nice and strong and have the backing of the fans.

“I understand their frustrations. I feel it myself as a coach and the players have to believe in themselves, go out and do the business, cut out the mistakes and we’ll always score goals.”

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