Thomas frustrated by delay to his Hatters career

In fact, he never even got to play for former boss Paul Buckle who was one of the reasons he signed for the club.

Thomas, who now face another spell on the sidelines after his red card at Braintree on Tuesday night, said: “It’s been hard to sit on there and watch what’s happening. But at the end of the day it’s come through now and I’m playing and I just need to get as many games under my belt as I can possibly to get back up to match speed.

“I’ve not played since October or November so that a long time not to be playing football. It’s difficult but at the end of the day I’m a professional player and I’ve got to adapt to that and adjust to that.”

But Thomas was philosophical over Buckle’s departure, saying: “The last club I was at we had four managers in four months. Managers coming and going are part of football.”

Buckle came in at the tail end of last week to speak to his former players, as Thomas said: “Everyone spoke to Paul. He came in after the game and had a chat with him individually. He spoke to the lads as a group and that was that.

“We all wish him good luck and he’s wished the lads good luck and said he’s got real belief in use that we can achieve something this year so let’s not disappoint him.”

And he’s hoping the fans will get behind new boss John Still, as he added: “The atmosphere’s good. It could be a really intimidating ground. We just need to all be trying to push it in the right direction. The players want to win games, the coaching staff, whoever is coaching here, whoever is involved in the club want to win games.

“The fans want to win games and get promoted out of this league, nobody wants to lose games, nobody wants to have players sent off, miss chances, miss tackles, miss headers, we all want to do the best for Luton Town.

“And I think if we are all pushing in the right direction together, then I think we can make this a real fortress for the rest of the season.”

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