Luton Town manager Jack Wilshere has set his sights on a top six finish in League One after recovering from their recent poor form over the past week.
The Hatters have been on the fringes of the play-off positions all season, but a run of six games without a win saw them plummet towards mid-table. A 2-1 victory at fellow promotion chasers Wycombe Wanderers put them back on track last weekend, which was followed by an entertaining 3-2 home triumph against Exeter City on Tuesday night.
Wilshere’s team remain 11th in the table and with Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City looking almost assured in third and fourth, the race is on for the final two spots. As ever, the table remains as tight as ever, with as many as eight teams still in with a realistic chance of extending their season.
Luton Looking Up The Table
Luton currently sit four points behind sixth-placed Reading ahead of their lunchtime kick-off against Stockport County later today. Dave Challinor’s side remain fifth after halting a run of three successive defeats on Tuesday with a narrow win over Northampton Town.
Five points separate the pair ahead of their clash at Kenilworth Road, although the visitors have played two games fewer. Therefore, a win for Bedfordshire-based side is imperative. Speaking ahead of the clash, Wilshere admitted that the time to strike is now:
“They’re (Stockport) above us, and that’s the most important thing for us going into the game. We go game by game, I think we have to at this point of the season. Of course an incentive for us is to get closer to them, a team above us, get closer to where they are. They’re in the play-offs, we want to be in the play-offs, so it’s a game that we will approach knowing in the back of our mind that if we do win, we’ll be closer to them.
“I think every game now kind of feels like that (must-win). Of course when a team’s above you it probably feels like it’s even more important, and we approach every game with that. I know it’s the easy thing to do, but we never go into a game thinking we might not win today. Everything that we’ve said Tuesday is how we’re going to win this game and we’ll try and give the players everything they need and then hopefully they can execute it.”
Positive End To A Disappointing Season?
Still aided by parachute payments from their brief tenure in the Premier League two seasons ago, Luton were the heavy favourites to secure promotion at the beginning of the campaign. A disappointing start saw Matt Bloomfield replaced by Wilshere in October.
There’s little doubt that this has been a huge learning curve for the former Arsenal and England midfielder. Performances at home have been largely strong, but they have been let down by their results on the road.
This has led to the Hatters playing catch-up and despite the relatively small gap between them and the top six, it is going to take a monumental effort to secure a play-off place. Anything short of a win this afternoon could all-but-end those hopes.
