Only minor ‘surgery’ needed as Town look to go top with Mariners victory

Only minor surgery is needed to Town’s tactics according to boss Paul Buckle as they look to go top of the league with victory at Grimsby Town tomorrow night, writes Mark Wood.

The Hatters bounced back from an horrendous 3-0 defeat at lowly Alfreton with a gutsy goalless draw against promotion rivals Wrexham on Saturday.

He said: “I think after looking at the game, it was a big game for us all. It was a big game for them, it was a big game for us and in the end I’m really pleased with how we came out of it because, when you look at the DVD, it’s interesting. Your eyes are everywhere on matchday, but when you actually sit down in the office and watch the DVD we probably cause our own problems at times whereby we were maybe a little bit guilty of being over-zealous in our attacking manner.

“Maybe our full-backs were going a little bit too early and that’s something we’ve had to look at, especially when we play with four up if you like. Scott (Rendell), (Jon) Shaw, (Andre) Gray and (Stuart) Fleetwood up top, it’s a very attacking team and we probably don’t need our full-backs bombing on so early. So I think a couple of the problems came down our right where we were just maybe in advance of the ball too quickly.

“In a way it was good to see that because that’s not major surgery for us, it’s just about maybe saying to the back four, you can stay at home a bit more, don’t leave any holes and we’ve got more than enough with that front four plus the legs in the midfield. Whoever we play in the midfield we’ve got a lot of legs in there.”

The match is being shown live on Premier Sports and Buckle is hoping that Hatters’ army of supporters will get to see them go top of the league as he and his squad travel over three hours north.

He said: “It could be worse, we could be going up there in January!

“It’s on TV, our players will be looking forward to it make no mistake about it, and I’m sure their players will. I’m always hopeful for a really good game and one where we can improve again and try and pick up the three points because we know if we do, by Friday night we will be sitting at the top of the league, which is what we all want.”

But he’s in no doubt it will be a tough encounter and knows the Hatters will have to be on their game, saying: “Without a doubt. They are one of the favourites again, there’s a crop of favourites at the start of play this season and they’re one of them.

“It’s a Friday night game, it’s one where we are going to have to be ready straight from the first whistle and make sure we are nice and solid.

“And again, we know the the attacking threat we’ve got, I was really pleased with the clean sheet we got on Saturday. That’s something that’s massive to us because we always feel we are capable of scoring or creating. And with our set-plays now as well, a lot of work has gone in on the training field with the set plays, and they are starting to pay off as well.

“We are certainly going in the right direction, which I said on Saturday after the game, but with still lots of room for improvement from us.”

Playing away from home may also allow the Hatters to play more on the counter, a style that Buckle believes may help his team.

He added: “Definitely I think sometimes it is easier to play away from home tactically because the onus is on the home team to come forward and to step on, like it was on us on Saturday.

“I’ve just related to that by saying sometimes you can get caught too high up the field and get picked off.

“We have got a lot of pace in the team, it is something we can use and you saw it when we played up at Ebbsfleet, we’re very dangerous on the break so it’s a powerful tool.

“At the same time we don’t want to be saying to the players, let’s sit back and play on the break, but we know if we are nice and solid when teams come on to us away from home we can break on them, especially on a good surface.”