Players must prove their worth as Town close on new signing

Hatters boss John Still is closing in on another new signing - but is still looking for his current charges to prove their worth after Tuesday night’s woeful 2-1 home defeat to struggling Hyde, writes Mark Wood.
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LTFC v Hyde
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LTFC v Hyde
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L13-312 12/3/13 MBLN LTFC v Hyde wk 11 MS JX

The Town chief admitted a permanent signing is in the offing, saying: “This would be a done deal. I am looking in that direction but it hasn’t happened at the moment.

“There is a particular position, that’s all I can say at the moment, but that’s really because of the availability of someone and not because I’m particularly knocking at the door to do it now, but I may have to.”

Still is still assessing his squad and, although highlighting the recent performances of Alex Lawless and Jake Howells as positives, with Alex Wall and Dan Walker also showing glimpses of promise, many others did themselves no favours on Tuesday night.

“All the players here have to show me what they’re capable of,” Still said.

“All the players here have to show they can play in a side that can get out of this league.

“It’s firmly in the players’ court. We’ve done not loads of work, but enough work to understand what we are trying to do.

“I don’t expect it to be perfect but I do expect it to be better than we showed because at the end of the day it’s the players that make your mind up.

“They make my mind up that come the end of the season that they can be part of a group that can win promotion.

“I think Luton have been out of the Football League four years now. So it’s not something that’s just happened, it’s over a period of time.

“One of the reasons I’m here is to try and rebuild that and to get a team that can take the team out of this division and the players that are here are in pole position because they have the first opportunity to do that.

“So between now and the end of the season (I have to find out), that’s why there was a subtle change again today, I’m trying to look at all the players as and when I can and find out who can do that and that’s what makes it so exciting because it hasn’t happened before.

“I’m here to try and make it happen now and the players that wear the shirt are the ones that have the best chance to impress me.

“But at the same time I want to be constructive and at the moment, the players are probably finding it a bit tough if I’m honest, but that’s how it is.

“That’s what’s going to tell me who can deal with it when it gets tough.

“Defeat you know and poor performances maybe at this time in the season are just about as important as success and great performances because I need to see what the players are capable of.

“And today I saw another side of some players that maybe I haven’t quite seen before, but that’s all part and parcel of it.

“It is important that I see as many players as I can. I would have liked to get the boy (Matt) Robinson on as well today, but it wasn’t possible.

“I do need to see these players, because by the time we get into the middle of April I need to have fully assessed everybody and decided who can be part of this squad to try and get this club out of this league.”

Skipper Ronnie Henry was evidently gutted by the defeat and hopes he and his team-mates can impress in the remainder of the season and be able to stay together.

He added: “Everyone knows their contract situation. Even if you’ve got another year left, two years left, you could still be gone, I don’t know.

“We trust the gaffer. He’s been there long enough and done enough in his career to know what he wants and it’s up to the lads to perform and show him in training and in games that they want to play for Luton Town Football Club and they’re good enough so we’ll have to wait and see.”