Town boss demands positive reaction from his side

HATTERS boss Gary Brabin hopes his side dust themselves down from their disappointing defeat at Forest Green Rovers when they take on Grimsby Town this weekend, writes Mike Simmonds.

Luton are without a win in five in all competitions and after going over the midweek performance in detail, Brabin is now out to make sure his side don’t dwell on past matters.

He said: “I’ve expressed my feelings, it was poor, there’s no getting away from it.

“We shut shop on Thursday. We had everyone in Wednesday to get over the disappointment of Tuesday night. Then we gave everyone the day off to have a rest and recover physically and mentally to prepare our mind for tomorrow.

“A lot was said after the game and it was refreshing to hear the players saying things as well.

“I just have to hope that its the end of a bad couple of weeks. It’s been a tough couple of weeks, but we can’t throw away our season based on the last couple of weeks.

“You certainly learn more about your players when you’re getting beat.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves down, move forward. We’re still in a good position and in with the chance of reaching our aim of promotion, so we’ve got to learn from those disappointments.”

Grimsby come to Kenilworth Road as one of the form teams of the division with only one defeat in their last 12 away matches in all competitions, and that was at leaders Fleetwood Town.

Victory for the Mariners would them to within a point of Luton, but Brabin said: “They’re in good form. In some ways, we’re looking at it all doom and gloom and yet we’re still in a better position than Grimsby who are flying at the moment.

“It’s another big game for us. We’ve got to rise to the challenge, we’ve got a good group of lads, they haven’t turned bad overnight.”

Striker Charlie Hearn is the stand out player for Grimsby with 26 goals to his name, but Brabin isn’t setting up his team purely to deal with the in-form forward.

He said: “He’s their goal threat, but I’m sure they won’t think they’re a one man team.

“It’s something we’ve not had, a regular goalscorer, but that’s something we’re aware of.

“A big thing on Saturday is believing that we’ve come this far and that it would be criminal to not do it now (promotion), when we’re in such a healthy position.”

Hatters are definitely without Amari Morgan-Smith and Dan Gleeson, while Greg Taylor, Ed Asafu-Adjaye and Aaron O’Connor remain doubts.

Winger Charlie Henry is in contention though after his midweek strike in the Beds Senior Cup against Biggleswade as Brabin added: “Charlie’s been involved more of late and that’ll be a good plus for him, scoring midweek.

“He’s come along way recently after being out for quite a while, so being involved will be a big lift for him.”

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