Pilkington aims to end Hatters’ heartache

LUTON Town captain George Pilkington is under no illusions as to how “heartbreaking” it can be to lose on penalties, and says all his players will have to guard against complacency on Sunday in order to overcome York City, by Richard Redman.

Pilkington scored for Town during their 4-3 shoot-out defeat in last season’s play-off final against AFC Wimbledon, and would be expected to take a spot kick should Sunday’s match last the whole 120 minutes.

The Hatters were denied by the post in normal time at the Etihad Arena 12 months ago before being beaten on penalties, and Pilkington would rather not repeat such drama this time around.

He said: “Against Wimbledon I think we could have won it in the 90 and lost it in the 120, but penalties are a horrible way to decide a football match.

“Don’t get me wrong, for the team that wins it’s great, but someone has to miss and someone has to score.

“It was heartbreaking to lose like that.”

Of course, this year’s final could also be decided by a shoot-out, but the Hatters defender insists no plan has been set in stone.

A host of players have taken penalties and missed for Luton this season but since appointing himself spot-kick taker, Pilkington has scored two out of two.

He said: “We haven’t drawn a list of takers but to be honest I think it will depend on how players feel on the day – I’ll step up and take one, but we’ll decide when it comes to it.

“Whoever takes a penalty will have to be confident to pick a spot and stick to it”

“I’m not a natural penalty taker, I never have been. We missed a few so I’ve started taking them and been fortunate enough for them to hit the back of the net.

As for preventing the heartbreaking scenario altogether, Pilkington added: “We’re a lot more dogged since the manager took over but we’re not naive to think York will be an easy game – we need players one to 11 on top of our games.”

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